[WikiEN-l] naming convention for birds

[Ray Saintonge]

daniwo59 at aol.com wrote:

> Where was the discussion for the naming convention for animals. A new 
> user is reverting the Canada goose, and I really don't want to get 
> into that whole fight again.
>
> Danny

It was never resolved.
According to the The Globe and Mail Style Book: "The generic English 
names of animals and plants, and common adjectives attached to them, are 
lower-case".  Certainly the provisions of a Canadian style book should 
apply to a Canadian species.

Also the Style Manual for Biological Journals as "Prepared by the 
Committee on Form and Style of the Conference of Biological Editors of 
the American Institute of Biological Sciences" states at page 68, 
"Generic names used as vernacular names are neither italicized nor 
capitalized"

In all fairness one on-line site (also Canadian) 
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/courses.hp/biol335/Lecture8-9.html does 
note "that the common names of birds are now usually capitalized". 
 "Usually" is important here; it is not in the form of a rule, but 
appears to reflect a custom.

This exception applies only to birds.  The material is at best 
contradictory  

Eclecticology