Birds: What's in a Name

This entertaining and informative guide explains the meanings of bird names, many of which have fascinating origins and stories behind them.

The universal system of scientific names, based largely on Greek and Latin, is used in all good bird books and assists birdwatchers around the world in figuring out exactly what they are looking at. While some of the names are fairly self-explanatory, such as Troglodytes for wren, meaning “cave-dweller,” others are more mysterious – …