[rec.birds] What does "flamulated" mean?

nap@drutx.ATT.COM (N. A. Parsons) (01/12/89)

I may be misspelling this word, but does anyone know what "falmulated" (as
in "flamulated owl") means?  It doesn't seem to be in my dictionary and
none of the books I have mentions it.

Thanks!
Nancy Parsons
drutx!nap

nap@drutx.ATT.COM (N. A. Parsons) (01/12/89)

Well, it wasn't really misspelled, just mistyped.  "Flamulated"; not
"falmulated."

Nancy Parsons

hansen@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Steve Hansen) (01/13/89)

from Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged, 1979:

  flammulated: having a red tinge; ruddy: said of the plumage of birds

jao@megatest.UUCP (John Oswalt) (01/13/89)

In article <9928@drutx.ATT.COM> nap@drutx.ATT.COM (N. A. Parsons) writes:
>I may be misspelling this word, but does anyone know what "falmulated" (as
>in "flamulated owl") means?  It doesn't seem to be in my dictionary and
>none of the books I have mentions it.
>
>Thanks!
>Nancy Parsons
>drutx!nap

I found the word (it's spelled "flammulated") in the OED supplement.  It
comes from the latin flammula, meaning flame, and means "Of a reddish
color, ruddy."  The Flammulated Owl, in it's red phase, has some reddish
flecks on it.
-- 

John Oswalt (..!sun!megatest!jao)

thebaut@infinet.UUCP (Suzanne Thebaut) (01/14/89)

In article <486@deimos.cis.ksu.edu> hansen@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Steve Hansen) writes:
>from Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged, 1979:
>
>  flammulated: having a red tinge; ruddy: said of the plumage of birds

While we are (sort of) on the subject:

What color is 'rufous' (sp?)..???

Is it brown, reddish brown, what?

Thanks.

--Suzanne.