Cage & Aviary Birds Magazine No.5783 Norwich drive you crazy! Back Issue

ONE OF THE numerous pleasures of birds is an
enjoyment of their names. And the fact that
many birds have two – one scientific and
another vernacular – doubles the fun.
“Latin names”, people say, but many aren’t
Latin, more cod-Greek. Take “zosterops”, for instance (the
white-eye, and the subject of Bill Lowe’s article on page
14). Most people might know that the “ops” bit means
“eye”, but not so many that “zoster” is Greek for “a belt or
girdle”. Which is spot on, since a white-eye’s white “eye” is
actually a band or ring of white around the eye, not the eye
itself. And fanciers, being folk who like to get things right,
tend to favour the more precise name and call their birds
zosterops. (I was delighted the first time I read a fancier
refer to one of her birds as a “zosterop” – no “s”.)
My authority
on “zosterops”,
by the way, is
James Jobling’s
Dictionary of
Scientific Bird
Names, a superb
work now in its
lavish second
edition. Jobling is a writer after my own heart – a real
all-round birdman who can make everything interesting.
Talking of all-round birdmen, we feature a couple in this
week’s issue. On page 16, we meet Roger Tippett, Norwich
canary kingpin of the West Country, a breeder of beautiful
mules and also a lover of wild wetland birds: he’s a regular
helper at the WWT centre at Slimbridge. Then on page 18,
eminent avian surgeon Kevin Eatwell describes his return,
after a gap of two decades, to the breeding of his favourite
bulbuls. Two hugely experienced birdmen who, in their
different ways, still experience the excitement of the bird
world and know how to share it. Credit to both.
■ A seasonal heads-up: your next Cage & Aviary Birds will
be on sale a day early, on Christmas
Eve. Perfect reading matter if festive
conversation starts to flag the following
day. On that note, have a great week!