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Etymology of Soft-plumaged Petrel Pterodroma mollis (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter JCL
- Start date
Richard Klim
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Brooke & Cox 2004. Albatrosses and petrels across the world:
Richard
"Although both scientific and common names suggest the plumage is unusually soft, there is actually no strong reason to suppose this is so..."
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...v=onepage&q=soft-plumaged petrel name&f=false
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...v=onepage&q=soft-plumaged petrel name&f=false
Richard
ta brandreth
Well-known member
southerners are always soft........
Allen S. Moore
Well-known member
Might the name be from the plumage being mostly a softer colour? Softer than what, one might ask, but I'm guessing wildly!
Daniel Philippe
Well-known member
The choice of the names was John Gould’s, but there is no explanation in his Birds of Australia (1848) : http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-f4773-7-s108 neither in his Handbook to the birds of Australia (1865). May be in the Annals and Magazine of Natural history (1844, n°13 p.363) where the bird was described. May be …
l_raty
laurent raty
http://www.archive.org/stream/annalsmagazineof13lond#page/364/mode/1up
"The term mollis has been suggested by the peculiar character of the under plumage, which is much more dense and soft than that of most other members of the group."
chris butterworth
aka The Person Named Above
:clap::clap::clap:
I didn't notice Fea's as being particularly "soft plumaged" ( the bl**dy beaks aren't, anyway ) when I had one in the hand in Cape Verde. It's probably something to do with the soft grey colour on the underparts of the southern birds.
Chris
