[Wikipedia-l] capitalization of birds

[Vicki Rosenzweig]

I just double-checked my reference shelf. The field guides (Peterson's
and Audubon Society) capitalize names in running text, but Peterson
also prints names in ALL CAPS both at the head of the entry and on
the pages with the illustrations. It looks more like a design choice than
an editorial one. (I should also admit that I'm skeptical of using, as an
authority on English spelling/capitalization, a volume that consistently
spells "juvenile" "Juvenal".)

The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds lower-cases
species names.

I don't know if this reflects a recent tendency among birders to capitalize
for clarity, or a difference between field guides and references that you're
expected to use at home.

Does anyone have Sibley's? (It's more recent than any of my references,
and I mean to buy it when I can afford to.)

As a side note, I both write and copyedit Wikipedia entries, and wrote the
entry on the red-winged blackbird.

Wikikarma: random copyediting last night.
-- 
Vicki Rosenzweig
vr at redbird.org
http://www.redbird.org