Texas Bird of Paradise (two different birds -- plus a plant!)

Sat Nov 10 10:22:35 UTC 2007

DARE and OED have surely prepared a "Texas bird of paradise" entry. I
think the entries may be wrong.
...
(Again, apologies to anyone who must delete this message. I worked
many thankless hours typing and researching this, and DARE and OED do
not pay me anything. My website made all of five bucks today, and I
don't like to be ridiculed helping DARE and OED and American Speech.)
...
In DARE's entry for "roadrunner," it's clear that there will be a
(single?) "Texas bird of paradise" entry. However, there should be TWO
OR THREE entries!
...
The usual "Texas bird of paradise" is the scissor-tailed flycatcher.
The "roadrunner"/"paisano" is also called the "Texas bird of
paradise," but perhaps incorrectly. Two different birds!
...
There is/was also a plant called the "Texas bird of paradise."
...
Again, for OED and DARE--make two or three entries here!
...
...
...
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/texas_bird_of_paradise_flycatcher_road_runner_or_roadrunner_pasiano_clown_o/
...
Entry from November 10, 2007
Texas Bird of Paradise (Flycatcher; Road-Runner or Roadrunner;
Pasiano; Clown of the Desert)
"Texas bird of paradise" can mean several things. Since at least 1859,
the "Texas bird of paradise" has meant bird also known as the
scissor-tailed flycatcher. This is usually what is meant when "Texas
Bird of Paradise" is referred to today.

The "roadrunner" (cited in print from 1856) or "chaparral bird" is
often called the "paisano" (cited in print from 1844 or 1853) in
Texas. This bird—in the genus Geococcyx of the cuckoo family—has been
called the "clown of the desert" since 1928. By at least 1932, the
"roadrunner" was also referred to as the "Texas bird of paradise."

In the 1950s, a plant also called the "Texas bird of paradise"
appeared in print in Brownsville and San Antonio newspapers.

Wikipedia: Tyrant flycatcher
The tyrant flycatchers are a family of passerine birds which occur
throughout North and South America, but are mainly tropical in
distribution. They are now considered the largest family of birds on
earth, with over 400 species. Tyrant flycatchers superficially
resemble the Old World flycatchers, but have a tendency to be more
robust with stronger bills. They are members of suborder Tyranni
(suboscines) that do not have the sophisticated vocal capabilities of
the songbirds.

Wikipedia: Geococcyx
The roadrunners are two species of bird in the genus Geococcyx of the
cuckoo family, Cuculidae, native to North and Central America. These
two species are the ground foraging cuckoos.
. Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus (southwestern United States)
. Conkling's Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus conklingi - prehistoric
. Lesser Roadrunner, Geococcyx velox (Mexico and Central America)
Morphology
Roadrunner species generally range in size from 18-24 inches in length
from tail to beak. The roadrunner is large, slender, black-brown and
white streaked ground bird with a distinctive head crest. It has long
legs, strong feet, and an oversized dark bill. The tail is broad with
white tips on the 3 outer tail feathers. They have a blank patch of
skin behind the eye that is shaded blue proximally to red distally.
The lesser roadrunner is slightly smaller, not as streaky, and has a
smaller bill. They are large long-legged birds with long thick dark
bills and long dark tails. They are terrestrial, and although capable
of flight, they spend most of their time on the ground. During flight
the wings are short and rounded and reveal a white crescent in the
primary feathers. Roadrunners and other members of the cuckoo family
have zygodactyl feet (two toes in front and two toes in back).
Roadrunners are able to run up to 15 miles per hour and generally
prefer sprinting to flying.

(Oxford English Dictionary)
road-runner, U.S., the paisano or chaparral cock;
1856 Hutching's Mag. Nov. 201/2 The *Road-Runner is seldom seen in
trees, unless pursued very closely.
1872 COUES N. American Birds 189 Ground Cuckoo. Chaparral Cock. Road Runner.
1885 Harper's Mag. Feb. 423/1 This bird is called scientifically the
Geococcyx Californianus, but is popularly known under several other
names, such as road-runner.
1930 R. MACAULAY Staying with Relations xix. 275 Not a thing to look
at, on this so-called road, only cactus and chaparral and road-runners
and those darned flowering aloes.
1972 G. DURRELL Catch me a Colobus ix. 188 A Road-runnera strange
little bird with a crest and a long tail and enormous flat feet.

(Dictionary of American Regional English)
roadrunner n
also roadrunner bird:
A large ground cuckoo of the desert Southwest (Ceococcyx californianus).
Also called Arizona peacock, California peacock, chachalaca, chaparral
cock, cock of the desert, ground cuckoo, lizard bird, medicine bird,
Mexican peafowl, paisano, prairie cock, rattlesnake killer, snake
killer, Texas bird-of-paradise, war-bird
1856 Hutchings' CA Mag. Nov. 201, The Road-Runner is seldom seen on
trees, unless pursued very closely.
1897 Oologist 14.68 CA, Another of our more common birds is the
Road-runner (Geozozzyx californianus) or Paisano as the Mexicans call
it.
1926 TX Folk. Soc. Pub. 5.88, As crazy as a paisano (road-runner or
chaparral bird).
1940 Writers' Program Guide TX 28, The road runner or ground
cuckoo...is the clown of the highways. With plumage comically ruffled,
this large long-legged bird runs swiftly along the ground instead of
flying and tries to race ahead of automobiles.

(Oxford English Dictionary)
paisano, n.
In Mexico and the south-western United States: the roadrunner (genus
Geococcyx).
[1844 J. GREGG Commerce of Prairies I. 195 There is to be found in
Chihuahua and other southern districts a very beautiful bird called
paisano (literally 'countryman'), which, when domesticated, performs
all the offices of a cat in ridding the dwelling-houses of mice and
other vermin.] 1
853 S. W. WOODHOUSE in Rep. Exped. Zuni & Colorado Rivers (U.S. Army
Corps Topogr. Engineers) 92 Geococcyx Mexicanus, Gmel.The Paisano or
Chaparral Cock.
1885 Harper's Mag. Feb. 423/2 The paisano..deserves..kindness from man.
1930 F. WOODHULL in J. F. Dobie Man, Bird & Beast (1965) 24 While the
rest of us were eating fried chicken the boy ate fried paisano.
1947 R. BEDICHEK Adventures with Texas Naturalist (1984) 282, I prefer
the name paisano because it is euphonious and because often in the
lonely desert, where company is scarce, this large and lovely bird
will travel along with you for miles, staying only a few yards ahead.
1994 R. HENDRICKSON Happy Trails 175 Paisano… The roadrunner bird,
often domesticated by Mexicans to rid homes of mice.

(Dictionary of American Regional English)
paisano n [Span]
also Mexican paisano: =roadrunner.
[MexSpan; prob folk-etym for faisan pheasant]
[1844 (1954) Gregg Commerce 138, There is to be found in Chihuahua and
other southern districts a very beautiful bird called paisano
(literally "countryman"), which when domesticated, performs all the
offices of a cat in ridding the dwelling-houses of mice and other
vermin.]
1858 Baird Birds 73, This remarkable genus [=Geococcyx] is represented
in the United States by a single species the United States by a single
species known as the Paisano, Chaparral Cock, or sometimes Road
Runner.
1897 Oologist 14.79 TX, In Texas this bird [=roadrunner] is almost
universally known as the Chaparal Bird or Mexican Peafowl; sometimes
it is called the Ground Cuckoo, Snake Killer and Paisano.
1926 TX Folkl. Soc. Pub. 5.88, As crazy as a paisano (road-runner or
chaparral bird).
1940 Writers' Program Guide TX 28, The road runner or ground cuckoo,
also locally called the chaparral bird, "Texas bird of paradise," and
paisano, found over the entire middle and western parts of the state,
is the clown of the highways.
1957 AmSp 32.185 TX, Mexican paisano—Roadrunner.
1958 AZ Highways May 2, Born and reared in Southwest Texas, I wa grown
before I knew that the bird [=roadrunner] ha any other name than
paisano.., by which the Mexicans of Texas and northern Mexico know it.
1961 Ligon NM Birds 139, So much a part of the Southwest is the
Roadrunner that in Texas, southern New Mexico, and particularly in
Mexico, where it is regarded with affection and even reverence, it is
commonly referred to as "Paisano," meaning "fellow countryman."

(Oxford English Dictionary)
bird of paradise, (a) a bird belonging to the family Paradiseidæ,
found chiefly in New Guinea, and remarkable for the beauty of their
plumage; also fig.; (b) Astron. (see quot. 1659);
1606 J. CARPENTER Solomon's Solace xxi. 86 The bird of Paradise, which
beeing taken in a snare is neuer quiet.
1638 WILKINS New World I. (1684) 175 The Birds of Paradise..reside
Constantly in the Air.
a1649 CRASHAW Carmen Deo Nostro (1652) f. a. ij verso, With heauenly
riches: which had wholy call'd His thoughtes from earth, to liue aboue
in'th aire A very bird of paradice.
1659 MOXON Tutor Astron. I. iii. §10. 19 There are in Heaven yet
twelve Constellations more, posited about the South Pole, which were
added by Frederico Houtmanno,..who..named them as follows..4 The
Peacock, 5 The Bird of Paradice, 6 The Fly.
1663 T. KILLIGREW Parsons Wedding III. ii, Wild. A Bird of Paradise,
what's that? Capt. A Girl of Fifteen, smooth as Satten, White as her
Sunday Apron, Plump, and of the first down.
1850 Jrnl. Ind. Archipel. IV. 182 The birds of paradise are natives of
New Guinea.

30 March 1847, Georgia Telegraph, pg. 1:
On our march from Onclova, we have occasionally seen the black-tailed
deer, a kind of hare, (the same, I believe, as that described by
Townsend,) the prairie wolf, and a large black, or dark-colored wolf;
the American mocking bird, the paisano, (described by Major McCall,)
the quail, (of the United States,) and a beautiful tufted dove colored
partridge.

Live Search Books
An Account of the Smithsonian Institution
by William Jones Rhees
Washington, DC; Thomas McGill, Printer
1859
Pg. 63:
The Scissor-tail or Swallow-tailed Fly-Catcher or the Texas Bird of
Paradise, is an exquisitely beautiful and graceful bird.

Google Books
The Encyclopædia Britannica
by Hugh Chisholm
1911
Pg. 688:
The scissor-tailed flycatcher, or Texas bird of paradise, is common on
the prairies ano in the lightly wooded districts.

Google Books
Rural Texas
by William Bennett Bizzell
New York, NY: Macmillan
1924
Pg. 87:
... the snowy heron, along the Gulf coast; and the scissor-tailed fly
catcher or Texas bird-of-paradise, notable for its long tail-feathers.
...

5 May 1924, Lincoln (NE) Star, pg. 4, col. 2:
Bird lovers are much pleased over the return of the scissor-tail
flycatchers who nested successfully on a farm near College View last
season. They returned Thursday and Friday. One was also seen on
Stevens creek, probably one of the young birds of last year. These
birds are very rare in this locality, their usual range extending only
as far north as Kansas according to the bird books. They are sometimes
called the Texas Bird of Paradise, being very common in that state.

5 May 1928, Dallas (TX) Morning News, "Children's Corner," part 1, pg. 11:
YOU children who have crossed the desert on your way West may have
seen the comical bird, the California road runner, doing some of his
"stunts" for your amusement. he has been called the clown of the
desert.

Google Books
Tone the Bell Easy
by Mabel Major
Texas Folk-lore Society
1932
Pg. 187:
At the business meeting Saturday afternoon the paisano— known also as
the road-runner, chaparral cock, and (occasionally) as the Texas
bird-of-paradise—was, ...

10 March 1932, San Antonio (TX) Express, "Chaparral Bird Destroys
Pests," pg. 22, col. 5:
A dead chaparral bird or "road runner" supplied good evidence in favor
of the perpetuation of the species, a condition opposed by many, when
it was being prepared for mounting at Witte Memorial Wednesday.

There are some who hold the species should be exterminated because it
kills and eats lizards which eat bugs. Others support their argument
by the fact the bird eats small birds and chicken eggs.
The stomach of the bird yielded by careful count, two large
grasshoppers, 31 cut worms, 12 snails, nine beetles, three crickets
and a quantity of moths.
Mrs. Ellen S. Quillin, museum director, made the announcement without
argument either way as to whether the bird should be exterminated or
perpetuated. A popular myth has it that the birds also kill
rattlesnakes but little faith is laid in this. The chaparral bird is
known also as the Texas bird of paradise.
(MORE ON WEBSITE--B.P.)

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