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</a> [mailto:<a yma --f403045e21e017720a054197603b Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The science is relatively current, to 2012: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221820269_High_latitudes_and_high_= genetic_diversity_Phylogeography_of_a_widespread_boreal_bird_the_gray_jay_P= erisoreus_canadensis On 18 November 2016 at 13:19, Fred Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca> wrote: > On 11/18/2016 11:34 AM, Laviolette, Lance wrote: > > > Perisoreus canadensis canadensis, that's a lot of Canadian content > packed into one bird. Inevitably a name had to be chosen for the species > and Canada Jay could have been the name. For the majority of Canadians, > subspecies are not differentiated but if an English name was needed for P= . > c. canadensis subspecies then it could have been Gray Jay. > > > ...agree with Wayne. To paraphrase Frodo Baggins, the name was taken an= d > hidden away, never to be spoken of again. However, like that famous gold > ring he was speaking of, Canada Jay keeps popping up again in the memory = of > Canadian birders. > > * well, under the rules necessary for the process of forming english name= s > for species the AOU couldn't elevate the subspecific 'Canada Jay' to be t= he > name of the species. For one simple example of the kind of trouble this > would have caused (besides the confusion of whether species or subspecies > was meant in a particular text), P. c. obscurus was the 'Oregon Jay' and > making 'Canada Jay' the name for the whole species would have tied > Oregonians' knickers in a knot - and you know how sensitive birders are > about their knickers. > > What the species needs is a proper study to see if any of the so-called > subspecies have any reality, or if they're just geographic variation in > colour and size. > > ...and look at the parts of Canada where the Bird was never known as > Canada Jay (from the wikipedia list of subspecies): northeastern British > Columbia and northwestern Alberta southeastward, east of the Rocky > Mountains to South Dakota; the Rainbow Mountains area, and headwaters of > the Dean and Bella Coola Rivers of the central Coast Ranges, British > Columbia; Anticosti Island, Quebec; southeastern British Columbia, > southwestern Alberta; southwestern British Columbia and Vancouver Island > south through central Washington; northern Quebec (Fort Chimo, Whale Rive= r, > and George River), throughout Labrador, and in southeastern Quebec. > Thinking 'Canada Jay' was the name of the species all across Canada is a > misremembering of what names were used for the subspecies. > > > Common names were rarely, if ever, universal so that fact that > Wi-akajak, W=C3=ACsakedj=C3=A0k, W=C4=ABhsakec=C4=81hkw, Wiisagejaak, Ink= tonme, Nanabozho, > Whiskey Jack, Camp Robber, Gray Jay, Meat Bird, White-headed Jay, Oregon > Jay and numerous others have been used to identify this species is not > important to this discussion. What is important is that not only is Gray > Jay a bland, non-inspiring choice of an English name for such a great bir= d > but in its current form it is spelled incorrectly for Canadian consumptio= n. > > * I'm sure they spell 'colour' 'color' in the AOU Checklist. On the other > hand, in grade 2 in Connecticut I was taught that grey/gray was the one > case where there were alternative acceptable spellings for a word, but it > seems 'grey' has gone down the tubes in the USA since then, or maybe it w= as > just a New England thing. > > > The French name has it right, M=C3=A9sangeai du Canada and it=E2=80=99s= time the > English name moved out of the last century and into the present one. > > * I've worried about this for years, and have decided, since vernacular > names should, if they're meant to be vernacular, be harvested rather than > invented, to just use 'Whiskey Jack.' > > > There are few enough birds with Canada as part of their name but a whol= e > lot with American. I know it is SUPPOSED to stand for North American but = I > always imagine American (as in the United States of AMERICA) Ornithologis= ts > quietly laughing about it behind closed doors. Would bringing the number = of > birds with Canada in their name back up to the enormous total of three > really be that much of a crime? > > * but the real preponderance is in the other direction, if you consider > the scientific names, which is how we're supposed to reference species if > we're to be understood. Vernacular names are really just a recreational > aspect of the study of cultural traditions. > > fred. > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad > Fragile Inheritance Natural History > Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/ > Vulnerable Watersheds - http://vulnerablewaters.blogspot.ca/ > Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm > 4 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0 > on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W > (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/ > ------------------------------------------------------------ > --f403045e21e017720a054197603b Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <div dir=3D"ltr">The science is relatively current, to 2012:<div><br></div>= <div><a href=3D"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221820269_High_lat= itudes_and_high_genetic_diversity_Phylogeography_of_a_widespread_boreal_bir= d_the_gray_jay_Perisoreus_canadensis">https://www.researchgate.net/publicat= ion/221820269_High_latitudes_and_high_genetic_diversity_Phylogeography_of_a= _widespread_boreal_bird_the_gray_jay_Perisoreus_canadensis</a><br></div></d= iv><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On 18 November= 2016 at 13:19, Fred Schueler <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:bckcd= b@istar.ca" target=3D"_blank">bckcdb@istar.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><blo= ckquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #c= cc solid;padding-left:1ex">On 11/18/2016 11:34 AM, Laviolette, Lance wrote:= <br> <br> > Perisoreus canadensis canadensis, that's a lot of Canadian content= packed into one bird. Inevitably a name had to be chosen for the species a= nd Canada Jay could have been the name.=C2=A0 For the majority of Canadians= , subspecies are not differentiated but if an English name was needed for P= . c. canadensis subspecies then it could have b