What s in a Name? 
An interesting problem for the 
P. O.B.S.P. is the variety of names 
used by different nationalities to 
identify the same bird. This some- 
times produces bizarre misunder- 
standings in bird identification. 
Not long ago the Pish and 
Wildlife Service in Washington, DC, 
received an interesting letter con- 
cerning one of the birds banded by 
the P.O.B. S.P. The letter was from 
W. R. Ferguson, a missionary in the 
Solomon Islands. An excerpt reads 
as follows: 
"The other day a native lad 
named Philip Kera, without 
much trouble. . .managed to 
catch a frigate bird when 
he was fishing... at Ghatere 
on the island of Kolomban- 
gara in the Solomon 
islands. " 
Mr. Ferguson has lived in the 
Solomon area since 19^+6, and has 
been much interested in the 
derivation of native names. Upon 
asking the meaning of a name he 
once was quickly given the answer 
"Belama. " ("Belama" is the native 
word for frigatebird, which, in 
these islands, is regarded as the 
greatest bird in the sky. ) 
It is the philosophy of the 
island that out of respect to a 
father-in-law, a son-in-law should 
use the words "Belama" or "Makasi" 
meaning tuna, the greatest fish in 
the sea, as a form of praise. 
In another letter to the U. S. 
Fish and WildLife Service from 
Papua, New Guinea, the natives, not 
knowing the scientific name of the 
frigatebird call it "Otoai" meaning 
"Wind Bird. " 
From Jaluit Atoll in the Mar- 
shall Islands we have obtained 
several native names for the local 
birds. They are; 
Golden Plover - Koloej 
Fairy Tern - Me jo 
Common Noddy - Bejwak 
Hawaiian Noddy - -Jkar 
Brown Booby - Kalo 
Scientific names are used by 
scientists in order to avoid the 
confusion that a number of differ- 
ent common names might produce. 
For example, frigatebirds are clas- 
sified as great or lesser according 
to the other species in the area, 
and are specifically designated 
only by the terms Fregata magnifi - 
cens, Fregata minor, and Fregata 
ariel . 
The Pacific Ocean Biological 
Survey Program is interested in the 
names given by the natives to their 
local birds. We would greatly 
appreciate any information our 
readers could send us. 
- Anne K. Poulson 
* * * * * 
The Pacific Bird Observer 
would like to thank those in the 
Southern Pacific area who have 
offered to publicize our program 
and to encourage people to report 
sightings of banded birds. 
Mr. Bruce Turner, Senior 
Librarian, Library Services of 
Western Samoa, has offered to dis- 
tribute the Pacific Bird Observer 
through the library and its book- 
mobiles. He has also^fferea to 
publicize the procedure for report- 
ing banded birds on his radio pro- 
gram on station 2 AP. 
Mrs. G. Hamel, Otago Regional 
Representative of the Ornithologi- 
cal Society of New Zealand, circu- 
lates information about the Pacific 
bird banding program through her 
local news bulletin, thus keeping 
local coastal farmers and light- 
house keepers aware of the program. 
