Talk:Common Raven/Comment

message: *This section completely fails to discuss the taxonomic placement of the species. What are its closest relative? Why is it specifically in Corvus/Corvidae? 
*Rename it to "taxonomy and nomenclature," or spin the common names in a section of their own. They have nothing to do with Taxonomy.
*Is there a type specimen? - dunno, but it is the type species 
:I've sent a message into Tring asking if they know if/where a type specimen is located MeegsC | Talk 08:51, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Taxonomy

message: I'm always a bit iffy with sections that have only one subsection. Usually that means that said subsection is not treated correctly within the structure. And it doesn't look very good on the ToC. But that's only me.
*"to Lake Baikal region"
**Missing article 
*"It is intermediate in size,"
**Between what?
*"similar to Brown-necked Raven"
**Is the absence of article in this construction usual? (No) I know it is for Latin names, but I don't know for English. I'd still comment that Wikipedia is not an ornithological publication, though. 
*"The neck and breast are distinctly brownish but obscured by glossy black when the plumage is very fresh."
**This simply doesn't make sense to me.
*Maybe link hackle somewhere? (although the actual proper article  seems to be missing). It's a bit jargonistic.  
*"a distinctly oily plumage gloss."
**Lose the italics 
*"and the culmen is strongly arched"
**Link culmen 
*"The plumage bleaches dark brown on head and body"
**what does "to bleach" means here?
*"the mountains of western China and the Himalayas."
**I would think the Himalayas are in western China...
*"most glossy race"
**glossiest 
*"than C. c. principalis"
**"than that of C. c. principalis" 
*"The bases of neck feathers are grey"
**FInd the missing article.
*"in Baikal region"
**Add an article and disambiguate baikal 
*"is strongly glossed"
**Why not "glossy"? 
*"the throat hackles are well developed"
**Why not just refer directly to their size?
*"It is smaller, with a smaller and narrower bill"
**Whouldn't the latter ve somewhat implied by the former?
*"there are at least two cladess, a Holarctic a Californiann."
**Ahem... 
*"have split during an ice age 2 million years ago when much of California was isolated by glaciers."
**Link huronian (assuming its the correct glaciation) (umm, wrong one by 1998 million years but I will look for a link :) )cheers,  Cas Liber | talk  |  contribs 04:20, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Subspecies

message: *How can something be "highly" omnivorous? Either they are or are not. If the meaning is that they appear to show absolutely no preference (unlike bird X, as a comparison would be appropriate), then say so. 
*"vary widely by location"
**"from one location to another" or "depending on the location/food sources available"
*"and serendipity"
**"and chance" - here I like serendipity as it combines the idea of chance and luck succinctly in one word, which chance alone doesn't...I'll see what the consensus is.cheers,  Cas Liber | talk  |  contribs 02:55, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Diet 

message: *Single paragraph sections are discouraged by WP:GTL. Consider expanding/moving the content
 - moved to enlarge behaviour section
*"however young birds form flocks as well."
**"although young birds" 
*"In Ravens in Winter, Bernd Heinrich showed"
**link Bernd Heinrich here,not in the references or further reading 
*"to allow the juveniles to outnumber the resident adults"
**The chaining of "to" is not ideal a solution does not easily come to mind yetcheers,  Cas Liber | talk  |  contribs 03:14, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Social behaviour

message: *Neither Raven (mythology) nor raven banner are "main articles" to the content of this section. Besides, they are already linked inside.
*This section fails to properly expand on the symbolism of the raven, either in myth or literature. It can and should be longer than it is.
**I'm doing this - first para - black/ill omen/intro, then chronological progression from ancient to modern. cheers,  Cas Liber | talk  |  contribs 23:56, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Cultural references