andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) (12/05/90)
In article <532@research.cc.flinders.oz> psjmt@research.cc.flinders.oz (James Tizard) writes: > In England, and here in Australia too, we don't have 'hawks' as such. > 'Hawk' is a lay term for smallish raptors, of which accipiters > (goshawks & sparrowhawks) are one genus (family?). In the US however, things > are different (suprise!). I haven't got my US field guide with me, but > I do recall that there is a whole family of raptors correctly referred > to as 'hawks'. One species I remeber seeing in the south was the Red Hawk > (???) - a common roadside hawk of about european buzzard size. There is no pattern for the use of Hawk in a raptor's english name. Its seems a default name applied to raptors, particularly in the Americas. It is applied to both small and large raptors. They all are in one family (Accipitridae) but so are most raptors. The Red-tailed Hawk of the US is a Buteo and as such you could argue its should be called the Red-Tailed Buzzard. Personally I think its not worth the effort arguing over logical English names. I favour, where possible, the adoption of native or colloquial names. Here are 2 (old) changes to Australian bird names of the sort I favour: Rose-Breasted Cockatoo -> Galah Great Brown Kingfisher -> Laughing Kookaburra Andrew
jhiggott@axion.bt.co.uk (jeff higgott) (12/07/90)
In Britain: `Hawk' is a term generally used with Accipiters; `Falcon' used to describe Falco species; `Buzzard' used to dedescribe Buteo species (plus, Pernis spp) `Harrier' used with Circus spp; and so on. * Jeff Higgott - "I must apologise to the deaf for this loss of subtitles" - Angela Rippon