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Why is Kentish Plover called Kentish? (1 Viewer)

I asked the same question some time ago after watching this species in Sicily, and apparently its because they used to breed in Kent ?? but no longer
 
Yes, this was the case as you say. But maybe it's an old tale that the scientist who studied and wrote up the description of this species lived in Kent or a Kentish town where the bird used to be found in reasonable numbers. Probably just a fairy story or complete garbage.
Someone on BF will know the answer.
 
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According to my 1958 edition of TA Coward's 'The Birds of the British Isles' :
"The Kentish Plover is a summer visitor with a very restricted English breeding range, this being a portion of the Kent and Sussex coast ... Protection was just in time to save the Kentish Plover; it nearly came too late and by 1940 it had become almost extinct as a breeding bird in England."
 
Yes, this was the case as you say. But maybe it's an old tale that the scientist who studied and wrote up the description of this species lived in Kent or a Kentish town where the bird used to be found in reasonable numbers. Probably just a fairy story or complete garbage.
Someone on BF will know the answer.

Presumably it indicates where in Kent the bird comes from? One half of Kent it would be Kentish Plover, the other half Plover of Kent? ;)

John
 
According to "Birds Britannica" (Mark Cocker and Richard Mabey) it was relatively common on the Kent and Sussex coasts in the nineteenth century. The British population was discovered by Dr John Latham when he was sent specimens from Sandwich Bay. Taxidermists, egg collectors and later tourist development resulted in the population declining and disappearing completely by 1931.
 
It's the only bird I can call to mind with a common English name commemorating one place (Kent) and the scientific name another (Alexandria). Or does anyone know of another example? It also thereby has a tenuous link with Radde's Warbler .....
 
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