MRS MOREAU'S WARBLER

I've just finished reading 'Mrs Moreau's Warbler, How Birds Got Their Names' by Stephen Moss. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I found the constant interruption of the narrative with footnotes in tiny print was a minor irritant.
Many ornithologists are mentioned and I am somewhat bemused at the omission of John Gould. Australia is mentioned fleetingly; the book is predominantly Anglocentric. Only on page 263 did I learn that the book was supposed to be about English bird names.

'The Times' is quoted on the cover:  'Stephen Moss unlocks a trove of folk history. . .Not a page goes by without at least one diverting fact.'

The 'diverting fact on page 115 is one that I have written about elsewhere. It concerns the derivation of the name storm petrol.  Moss quotes the late Professor W.B
 Lockwood who wrote 'The Oxford Book of British Bird NamesLondon, 1984) as saying that these tiny birds 'tap the water with their feet as they fly low over the surface of the sea. He (Lockwood) suggested that this "pitter-patter" action led to the name, though the OED. . . Demurs, suggesting that although the origins are now long lost, it may come from the sounds these bird(s) make while mating, or even their smell.'

I found this fascinating as I'd always believed patrels were named after Peter, because they walked on water like St Peter on the Sea of Galilee.

Moss goes on to attribute this theory to William Dampier in 'A voyage to New Holland, etc, in the year 1699.'  Moss asserts this is entirely spurious. He does say that this derivation has  been accepted in many other European  countries, namely Germany, Norway and Spain. Id love to know why Moss is so sure of his grounds.

This quibble notwithstanding, I'd happily recommend 'Mrs Moreau's Warbler to anyone with an interest in the history of ornithology and the naming of birds.