A friend has an original 1934 Peterson A Field Guide to the Birds and I had a good look at it today.

Many common birds have had official name changes since those days. Listed in 1934 are the American Egret, the American Goldeneye, American Merganser and the American Rough-legged Hawk. These are now the:




In 1934, the Eastern Goldfinch was listed. It is now the American Goldfinch.

Holboell’s Grebe from 1934 is now called the Red-necked Grebe:

The Baldpate is now the American Wigeon:

Greater and Lesser Scaup formerly were Greater Scaup Duck and Lesser Scaup Duck.

The Old Squaw is now the Long-tailed Duck;

Marsh and Sedge Wrens were formerly called Long-billed and Short-billed Wrens.

A Red-winged Blackbird was simply a Redwing.

A Common Grackle was a Purple Grackle.

A Towhee was formerly called a “Chewink”.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler was called the Myrtle Warbler.

Several hawk names are different as you can see from this 1934 drawing.

Marsh Hawk is now Northern Harrier.

Duck Hawk is now the Peregrine Falcon.

Sparrow Hawk is named the American Kestrel.

PIgeon Hawk is now called the Merlin.

NATURE QUOTE
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet: Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
Miles Hearn
I note that 1934 was the date of the first publication of A Field Guide To The Birds. My 1947 edition has most of the same names as the original except for the Common Goldfinch. Some of the others have a cross reference, including Holboell’s Grebe. I took me a while to realize the Holboell’s Grebe on the colour plate was the Red-Necked Grebe!