{"id":11179,"date":"2018-09-25T13:10:12","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T20:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/?p=11179"},"modified":"2018-09-25T13:10:12","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T20:10:12","slug":"little-stogies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/25\/little-stogies\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Stogies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Greater Ani Panama May 2007\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rickwright\/44858700322\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1910\/44858700322_73b769a12a.jpg\" alt=\"Greater Ani Panama May 2007\" width=\"500\" height=\"419\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Those weird black cuckoos of the American tropics have been known as &#8220;anis&#8221; since pre-Columbian times, and the Native name was adopted immediately and authoritatively by the earliest European scientists.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biodiversitylibrary.org\/item\/10338#page\/338\/mode\/1up\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-11180\" src=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-11.21.41-AM-1024x461.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-11.21.41-AM-1024x461.png 1024w, http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-11.21.41-AM-300x135.png 300w, http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-11.21.41-AM-768x346.png 768w, http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-11.21.41-AM.png 1564w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>French-speaking colonists, though, came up with another label for the bird.<\/p>\n<p>Piso and Marcgrave had been satisfied to merely describe the ani&#8217;s vocalizations:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It calls with a loud voice a single syllable, yiiiiy, rising in the middle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But the creoles of at least one island colony <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biodiversitylibrary.org\/item\/207966#page\/295\/mode\/1up\">heard something else<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There are also many small black birds in Guadeloupe, quite similar to European blackbirds, which the inhabitants call &#8220;bout de petun,&#8221; rolled tobacco, since they believe &#8212; just as fools hear bells speak and discover in the shapes of clouds anything they please &#8212; that this bird&#8217;s song says, &#8220;un petit bout de petun,&#8221; a little roll of tobacco.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biodiversitylibrary.org\/item\/109375#page\/11\/mode\/1up\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-11181\" src=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-12.29.03-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"498\" height=\"612\" srcset=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-12.29.03-PM.png 618w, http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-25-at-12.29.03-PM-244x300.png 244w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 498px) 100vw, 498px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They also called these somber-plumed birds &#8220;devils,&#8221; inevitably enough, but it was the odd name &#8220;bout de petun&#8221; that caught the attention of scholars in metropolitan France.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biodiversitylibrary.org\/item\/133601#page\/18\/mode\/1up\">Buffon<\/a> rejected the earlier explanation of the name as a fanciful transcription of the ani&#8217;s song; instead, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biodiversitylibrary.org\/item\/133601#page\/111\/mode\/1up\">he argued<\/a> that this &#8220;ridiculous name&#8221; could have been inspired only by the bird&#8217;s plumage,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>brownish black, the color of a plug of tobacco&#8230;. The creoles of Cayenne have given this bird a name more suitable to its usual song, calling it the &#8220;bouilleur de canari,&#8221; referring to the sound made by water boiling in a cooking pot, quite different &#8230; from the verbalization &#8220;bout de petun.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Etienne Lefebvre-Deshayes, one of the most distinguished natural historians of the Caribbean, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biodiversitylibrary.org\/item\/133601#page\/120\/mode\/1up\">confirmed Buffon&#8217;s suspicion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We wouldn&#8217;t say that the bird has a song at all, rather a quite simple whistle or peeping, though there are occasions when it is more varied, but always harsh and unpleasant,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>hardly, it seems, the sort of vocalization to be rendered by the bubbling consonants of &#8220;petit bout de petun.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Groove-billed Ani\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rickwright\/3998443072\/in\/photolist-28U7FN7-MS6kis-29WtdRg-274iQuS-26HSEQN-25qgvpB-EGEFih-WHHMU6-FLT1vo-DYufrT-ieYBvP-ieLbMU-ieL5Da-ieLrb2-c6UeJo-c6Ud4d-c6Ud1j-8E1tmY-76k71d-76gcnt-76k6FS-76k6hL-76k4Zw-76k4PE-76gbbP-6wkxeD-9G5RxM-57JSb5-9GrjYD-91sNab-4XQkQB-9Gbtie-9GrkbX-9GbtvX-4XUACE-91sNtY-9Genby-4XQkvn-91pDrP-9GrjKZ-9FSdxq-9FPivv-9FSed9-9FPiXT-9FSe2L-9FPf8F-9FPfwM-9FSacE-2bm1yKC-9FSdG3\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2527\/3998443072_c2cf7485b8.jpg\" alt=\"Groove-billed Ani\" width=\"500\" height=\"290\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Different ears have different hears, of course. Where Buffon thought it beneath serious consideration that &#8220;petit bout de petun&#8221; could resemble the ani&#8217;s song, Charles Nodier, a polymath genius and authority on (of all things) onomatopoeia, found <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=U2AzAQAAMAAJ&amp;pg=RA1-PA212&amp;lpg=RA1-PA212&amp;dq=bout+de+petun&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=AdSU7XxPGu&amp;sig=Fkb116zYB3S6lPW_B9brXXdyOb4&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjPrbaV67nXAhUG2oMKHY2ZCCQQ6AEIWDAO#v=onepage&amp;q=bout%20de%20petun&amp;f=false\">confirmation for the name&#8217;s echoic origin<\/a> in Buffon&#8217;s own words.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Readers familiar with the mechanics of pronunciation will agree that, contrary [to Buffon&#8217;s conclusion], there cannot possibly be a better and more natural representation of the sound of bubbling and boiling than the onomatopoetic &#8220;petit bout de petun,&#8221; which seems to have been formed expressly to echo the sound of bubbling&#8230;. the meaning [of those words] is entirely fortuitous and insignificant here,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>the most forthright dismissal possible of the older author&#8217;s speculation about the tobacco-colored plumage of the ani.<\/p>\n<p>Good to have that settled. Or not.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Carib Grackle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rickwright\/11313781363\/in\/photolist-ieZ9Fy-ieL62V-ieLcq7-ieLcyy-ieKXXs-ieNfiM-ieMRWA-ieNf3g-ieVMAq-ieMZmd\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7358\/11313781363_7fb227c47c.jpg\" alt=\"Carib Grackle\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In his <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=O6YUAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA23&amp;lpg=PA23&amp;dq=%22petit+bout+de+petun%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=4AFK7DWTXg&amp;sig=NaPFwviP07CZiIvdDVcnKuu7H94&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi7hO2QrtbdAhWFhOAKHYGzD8YQ6AEwEXoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=%22petit%20bout%20de%20petun%22&amp;f=false\">history of Guadeloupe, Jules Ballet<\/a> turned a powerful hose on the stables by asserting that<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>the ani and the bout de petun are two quite different birds. The former, which is quite rare in Guadeloupe, has one character [namely, the bill shape] that prevents any confusion&#8230;. The bout de petun &#8230; is a grackle,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>the Carib grackle.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe. Truth is, I can&#8217;t hear &#8220;bout de petun&#8221; in the songs of any of the anis or of the grackle. Deep down, I think the name is probably the product of folk etymology. With no way to prove it, though, I&#8217;ll have to let all those dead Frenchmen figure it out among themselves.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"smooth-billed ani\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rickwright\/24924435925\/in\/photolist-9FSdG3-WHHMU6-FLT1vo-DYufrT-ieL5Da-ieLrb2-ieYBvP-ieLbMU-8E1tmY-9FPivv-9FSdxq-9FSed9-9FPiXT-9FSe2L\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1668\/24924435925_23dd9e270f.jpg\" alt=\"smooth-billed ani\" width=\"500\" height=\"363\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those weird black cuckoos of the American tropics have been known as &#8220;anis&#8221; since pre-Columbian times, and the Native name was adopted immediately and authoritatively by the earliest European scientists. French-speaking colonists, though, came up with another label for the bird. Piso and Marcgrave had been satisfied to merely describe the ani&#8217;s vocalizations: It calls &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/25\/little-stogies\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Little Stogies&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[688,87,689],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11179"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11183,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11179\/revisions\/11183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}