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VAUX'S SWIFT

The fog around SLC must be getting to our brains!
 
Vaux's Swift, Chaetura vauxi, was named for William Sansom Vaux (1811-1882), a Philadelphia naturalist who donated his extensive collections in mineralogy and archaeology to the Philadelphia Academy. Vaux also served as President of the Zoological Society and Vice-President of the Academy of Natural Sciences.
 
John Kirk Townsend named the swift. He discovered it on the Columbia River on his journey west in 1835.
 
Here's an amusing commentary by Kevin McGowan:

VAUX'S (Swift) - Here again we have a bird named for a person, this time William S. Vaux, and we need to know how he pronounced it. Those of you with training in French probably, and understandably, think you pronounce it as would the French - "vo" with a silent x. But you are WRONG (and probably pretentious too). Terres and Websters lists it as "vauks." I talked to someone once who knew some relative of William Vaux and said that they pronounced it "vauks."

For a hilarious discussion about pronunciation of birds' names, see McGowan's site: http://birds.cornell.edu/crows/birdname.htm

So there you have it, or maybe not.  I studied Latin when in high school and I think the proper Latin pronunciation of vauxi would be something like "woe-xy".  Remember how Julius Caesar said "veni, vidi, vici"?  And then of course there is "vox populi". :)

Jim McIntyre

 

 

 

 


 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn B. Barlow" <gbarlow@aros.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 11:43 AM
Subject: RE: [birdnet] StellAr's Jay OK, Cyanocitta stellAri not OK

> Jay,
>
> You peaked my curiosity.  I always thought Vaux was pronounced "vo" to rhyme
> with "though", but I went to Terres' encyclopedia and found out that is
> pronounced as "vawks", to rhyme with "hawks"; right?
>
> Glenn
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-birdnet@utahbirds.org [mailto:owner-birdnet@utahbirds.org]On
> Behalf Of munthe
> Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 11:37 AM
> To: birdnet@utahbirds.org
> Subject: [birdnet] StellAr's Jay OK, Cyanocitta stellAri not OK
>
>
> Hadn't checked birdnet lately, so just saw the Steller vs. Stellar
> notes.  As a taxonomist (fossil mammals) I love these disputes.  Fact
> is, if there are naming rules, in this jay's case the International Code
> of Zoologic Nomenclature, the spelling has to be that of the accepted
> first publication of the species even if that spelling appears to be
> wrong.  So if in honoring Mr. Steller the author of the taxon had
> misspelt his name, the species Cyanocitta stelleri would not exist.
>
> I guess this is why my more technical birding friends insist on the use
> of scientific names.  Trouble is, I can't remember most of these names
> and can't pronounce those I do remember.  At least if somebody writes
> about a Stellar's (or Stellar, or Stelur, or . . .) Jay I know they're
> referring to a big blue bird with a crest.  And I can always feel
> comfortable calling a Long-tailed Duck what it really is: a politically
> incorrect Oldsquaw.  Heck, a Norwegian's Oslo is a Swede's Christiania,
> just as one man's Turkey Vulture is another man's old buzzard.
>
> Ah, what's in a name?  Let's try the pronunciation of Vaux, as in
> Vaux's Swift.  That should lead to a few fistfights!
>
> Jens Munthe
>
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