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Hastings Rarities
The Hastings Rarities affair is a case of statistically demonstrated ornithological fraud that misled the bird world for decades in the 20th century. The discovery of the long-running hoax shocked ornithologists. The Hastings Rarities were a series of records of rare birds added to the British list on the basis of hundreds of reports, supported by preserved specimens, from George Bristow (1863–1947), a taxidermist and gunsmith of St Leonards-on-Sea, a town on the south coast of England. His reports were made between 1892 and 1930. In August 1962, the statistician John Nelder published an analysis in the journal '' British Birds'', demonstrating that the records were unlikely to be genuine. This was supported by an editorial in the same issue. 29 bird species or subspecies were dropped from the British List. On the basis of later records from elsewhere in Britain, most have subsequently been readmitted. History Two articles in the August 1962 issue of the journal '' British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snowfinch
Snowfinches are a group of small passerine birds in the sparrow family Passeridae. At one time all eight species were placed in the genus ''Montifringilla'' but they are now divided into three genera: * ''Montifringilla'' (3 species) ** In Europe, the name snowfinch is sometimes used for the white-winged snowfinch specifically * ''Pyrgilauda'' (4 species) * White-rumped snowfinch, ''Onychostruthus taczanowskii'' References {{Animal common name Birds by common name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Statistics
Statistics (from German: '' Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or social problem, it is conventional to begin with a statistical population or a statistical model to be studied. Populations can be diverse groups of people or objects such as "all people living in a country" or "every atom composing a crystal". Statistics deals with every aspect of data, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.Dodge, Y. (2006) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms'', Oxford University Press. When census data cannot be collected, statisticians collect data by developing specific experiment designs and survey samples. Representative sampling assures that inferences and conclusions can reasonably extend from the sample to the population as a whole. An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
The eastern olivaceous warbler (''Iduna pallida'') is a small passerine bird with drab plumage tones, that is native to the Old World. For the most part it breeds in southeastern Europe, the Middle East and adjacent western Asia, and winters in the northern Afrotropics. Relationships The eastern olivaceous warbler (''Iduna pallida'') is a "warbler", formerly placed in the Old World warblers when these were a paraphyletic wastebin taxon. It is now considered a member of the acrocephaline warblers, Acrocephalidae, in the tree warbler genus ''Iduna''. It was formerly regarded as part of a wider "olivaceous warbler" species, but as a result of modern taxonomic developments, this species is now usually considered distinct from the western olivaceous warbler, ''Iduna opaca''. Etymology Keyserling and Blasius gave no explanation of the genus name ''Iduna''. The specific ''pallida'' is Latin for "pale". Habits This small passerine bird is found in dry open country, including cultiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moustached Warbler
The moustached warbler (''Acrocephalus melanopogon'') is an Old World warbler Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the ci ... in the genus ''Acrocephalus (bird), Acrocephalus''. It breeds in southern Europe and southern Palearctic, temperate Asia with a few breeding in north-west Africa. It is partially bird migration, migratory. South-west European birds are resident, south-east European birds winter in the Mediterranean breeding range, and the Asiatic race migrates to Arabian Peninsula, Arabia, India and Pakistan. It is scarce north of its range, but has occurred as a very rare vagrant as far as Poland and Denmark. There have been a few reports from Great Britain, including a pair breeding in Cambridgeshire in 1946, but these records have recently been removed from the officia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cetti's Warbler
Cetti's warbler (''Cettia cetti'') is a small, brown bush-warbler which breeds in southern and central Europe, northwest Africa and the east Palearctic as far as Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. The sexes are alike. The bird is named after the 18th century Italy, Italian zoology, zoologist, Francesco Cetti. This species is very difficult to see because of its skulking habits. Taxonomy Cetti's warbler was species description, described in 1820 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck from specimens collected by Alberto della Marmora in Sardinia. Temminck coined the binomial name ''Sylvia cetti''. The specific epithet was chosen to commemorate the Italian zoologist Francesco Cetti. Cetti's warbler is now placed in the genus ''Cettia'' that was erected in 1834 by the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte with Cetti's warbler as the type species. Three subspecies are recognised: * ''C. c. cetti'' (Temminck, 1820) – west Europe to Greece and the Balkans, northwest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calandra Lark
The calandra lark (''Melanocorypha calandra'') or European calandra-lark breeds in warm temperate countries around the Mediterranean and eastwards through Turkey into northern Iran and southern Russia. It is replaced further east by its relative, the bimaculated lark. Taxonomy and systematics The calandra lark was originally placed in the genus '' Alauda''. The current genus name, ''Melanocorypha'' is from Ancient Greek ''melas'', "black", and ''koruphos'' a term used by ancient writers for a now unknown bird, but here confused with ''korudos'', "lark". "Calandra"' derives ultimately from ''kalandros'' the Ancient Greek name for this bird. The bimaculated lark is also sometimes termed as the calandra lark. Subspecies Four subspecies are recognized: * Western calandra lark (''M. c. calandra'') - (Linnaeus, 1766): Found in southern Europe and north-western Africa to Turkey (except south-central and south-eastern Turkey), Transcaucasia and north-western Iran * Eastern calandra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Lark
The black lark (''Melanocorypha yeltoniensis'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in south-eastern Russia and Kazakhstan. Taxonomy and systematics The black lark was originally placed in the genus ''Alauda''. The current genus name is from Ancient Greek. ''Melanocorypha'' is from ''melas'', "black", and ''koruphos'' a term used by ancient writers for a now unknown bird, but here confused with ''korudos'', "lark". The specific ''yeltoniensis'' is from Lake Yelton in the Volgograd region of Russia. Description This is a large, robust lark, in length. The adult male is unmistakable, being all black with some pale feather fringes on its back, and with a yellowish or pink bill. The female is undistinguished in comparison, mainly dark-blotched grey above and paler below. Her legs and underwing are black. The song is like a frantic version of that of Eurasian skylark. Distribution and habitat This is a bird of open steppe, often near water. It is partially migrato ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semipalmated Sandpiper
The semipalmated sandpiper (''Calidris pusilla'') is a very small shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''pusilla'' is Latin for "very small". It is sometimes separated with other "stints" in ''Erolia,'' but, although these apparently form a monophyletic group, the present species' old genus ''Ereunetes'' had been proposed before ''Erolia''. Description It is a small sandpiper, 13–15 cm (5.1-5.9 in) long and weighing around 20-32 g (0.7-1.1 oz). Wingspan ranges from 13.8-14.6 in (35-37 cm). Adults have black legs and a short, stout, straight dark bill. The body is dark grey-brown on top and white underneath. The head and neck are tinged light grey-brown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, in particular the western sandpiper; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints". Breeding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terek Sandpiper
The Terek sandpiper (''Xenus cinereus'') is a small migratory Palearctic wader species and is the only member of the genus ''Xenus''. It is named after the Terek River which flows into the west of the Caspian Sea, as it was first observed around this area. Taxonomy The Terek sandpiper was formally described and illustrated in 1775 by the German naturalist Johann Anton Güldenstädt under the binomial name ''Scolopax cinerea''. He reported that he had seen pairs breeding at the mouth of the Terek River where it flows into the Caspian Sea. It is now the only species placed in the genus ''Xenus'' that was introduced in 1829 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup. The genus name ''Xenus'' is from Ancient Greek ''xenos'' meaning "stranger"; the specific epithet ''cinereus'' is Latin for "ash-grey" from ''cinis, cineris'', "ashes". The species is considered to be monotypic, no subspecies are recognised. Among the Scolopacidae, ''Xenus'' is part of the shank- tattler-phalarop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey-tailed Tattler
The grey-tailed tattler (''Tringa brevipes'', formerly ''Heteroscelus brevipes''Banks, Richard C.; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L.; Kratter, Andrew W.; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J. V. Jr.; Rising, James D. & Stotz, Douglas F. (2006):Forty-seventh Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds '' Auk'' 123(3): 926–936. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123 26:FSTTAO.0.CO;2*Pereira, Sérgio Luiz & Baker, Alan J. (2005): Multiple Gene Evidence for Parallel Evolution and Retention of Ancestral Morphological States in the Shanks (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae). ''Condor'' 107(3): 514–526. DOI: 10.1650/0010-5422(2005)107 514:MGEFPE.0.CO;2), also known as the Siberian tattler or Polynesian tattler, is a small shorebird in the genus ''Tringa''. The English name for the tattlers refers to their noisy call. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a thrush-size ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slender-billed Curlew
The slender-billed curlew (''Numenius tenuirostris'') is a bird in the wader family Scolopacidae. Isotope analysis suggests the majority of the former population bred in the Kazakh Steppe despite a record from the Siberian swamps, and was migratory, formerly wintering in shallow freshwater habitats around the Mediterranean. This species has occurred as a vagrant in western Europe, the Canary Islands, the Azores, Oman, Canada, and Japan. The slender-billed curlew was always a rare species and is feared extinct, with the last verifiable sighting being in 1995. Description The slender-billed curlew is a small curlew, 36–41 cm in length with a 77–88 cm wingspan. It is therefore about the same size as a Eurasian whimbrel, but it is more like the Eurasian curlew in plumage. The breeding adult is mainly greyish brown above, with a whitish rump and lower back. The underparts are whitish, heavily streaked with dark brown. The flanks have round or heart-shaped s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cory's Shearwater
Cory's shearwater (''Calonectris borealis'') is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with Scopoli's shearwater. Taxonomy Cory's shearwater was formally described in 1881 by the American ornithologist Charles B. Cory from a specimen collected off Chatham Island, Massachusetts. He coined the binomial name ''Puffinus borealis''. Cory's shearwater is now placed in the genus '' Calonectris'' that was introduced in 1915 by the ornithologists Gregory Mathews and Tom Iredale. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''kalos'' meaning "good" or "noble" with the genus name ''Nectris'' that was used for shearwaters by the German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820. The name ''Nectris'' comes from the Ancient Greek ''nēktris'' meaning "swimmer". The specific epithet ''borealis'' is Latin and means "n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
