FW: common names of birds

[Joseph Laferriere]

When I was 12 years old, my school teacher in Rhode Island (northeastern
U.S.) told us there were two basic categories of trees: broadleaf trees and
evergreen trees. This is like saying there are two types of people: short
people and fat people.
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From: owner-taxacom
To: Multiple recipients of list TAXACOM
Subject: Re: common names of birds
Date: Thursday 15 June 1995 4:14PM

>>       As a famous mammalogist once  confided in me:
>>"There are really only 3 kinds of birds out there --
>>Big Brown birds, Little Brown birds, and Medium-Size
>>Brown birds.
>>
>>        Simple.
>>
>>        Krishtalka

Krishtalka reminds me of a recent meeting in Indonesia
where we were conducting a workshop with users of taxonomic
information and when it was suggested that Dipteriocarpaceae
(one of the major families of forest trees in Indonesia)
needed a lot more work as there were quite a few species
undescribed - a forester said what do we need to know about
all these species for - there are four main types:

The red ones that float
The red ones that sink
The yellow ones that float and
The yellow ones that sink

arthur

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Arthur D. Chapman  [Scientific Coordinator, Biogeographic Information, ERIN]

Environmental Resources Information Network     internet: arthur at erin.gov.au
GPO Box 787, Canberra,                             voice: +61-6-274 1066
ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA                                  fax: +61-6-274 1333