FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] FYI: Scott's Oriole trivia :o)

["Palmer-Ball, Brainard (EPPC OOS KNPC)" <Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx>]

I was writing up a note on this past winter's Scott's Oriole, and I
realized I had no idea what the species name for this member of the
genus Icterus was.
 
Anyone know the scientific name of Scott's Oriole off the top of their
head?
 
OK ... now look it up in a nearby field guide ... not Icterus scottii,
is it?
 
So why in the heck is it Icterus parisorum???
 
The American Dictionary of Bird Names gives this explanation ...
 
I. parisorum ... "named for the Paris brothers." ... "Paris brothers.
They were dealers in natural history specimens in Paris in 1837 when
Bonaparte named Scott's Oriole for them. They quite likely financed
scientific collecting expeditions as part of their business." [Note ...
the -orum in Latin is a plural masculine possessive ending; it it had
been the Paris sisters, it would have been -arum]
 
OK ... so then who is Scott from which the common name is derived?
 
Here the American Dictionary of Bird Names gives this summary: "Scott,
Winfield (1786-1866). Commander of the American forces in the Mexican
War. Couch, one of his lieutenants, thought he found (1854) a new bird
and described it under the name Icterus scottii, but Bonaparte had named
it parisorum seventeen years previously. The common name, however, has
been kept."
 
Interesting trivia ...
 
bpb, Frankfort