Lapwings, Loons and Lousy Jacks [Hardcover]

Lapwings, Loons & Lousy Jacks is a fountain of lore that should definitely be sampled by anyone thirsty for bird name stories. Moreover, in tracing some of its more tangled tales it sheds valuable light on how both science and language work when confronted with a vast and unruly collection of living things - by which I mean both the birds and the people who want to identify them.Examining the names of a variety of bird species from scientific as well as folkloric perspectives, Reedman s book sounds just right to satisfy???as well as pique???the curiosity of those, like myself, who have long wondered at the stories behind, and reasons for, the names by which the birds around us are???and have been???known.The names of birds???common, scientific and colloquial???almost form a poetry of their own, so varied and sometimes apparently inexplicable are they. This book admirably tries to pull together pretty much everything there is to know about ornithological nomenclature, looking at the stories behind names, the history of our naming systems, and the way that scientific names are assigned.The richness of names is something I celebrate along with the author. Moreover, his depth of research has taught me things I didn???t know and I thank him for it.He writes as a birder, but also, as is very evident, as a man whose professional life has revolved around languages and literature, and I fear that in trying not to create a serious work of reference he has failed! I think I shall go back to this book again and again.I approached Ray Reedman's splendidly titled book with enthusiastic anticipation. I am currently producing a set of prints of birds, using their old and often long forgotten names for the titles. I hoped to find stories about the derivation of these names and perhaps come across new ones to inspire further pictures in the series. I was not disappointed.The work of Reedman was very extensive, he explored the confusions and contradictions in the naming of birds, l£"