This name is a play on words. It sounds like 'Long John' and means 'silver fellow'. I did not make this up. There is a character in the book 'The Moor's Last Sigh' by Salman Rushdi that is called 'Lamba Jan'. Salman Rushdi has a wonderful writing style, but I didn't have the constitution for the subject matter of that book. I started it and set it down for over a year before I finished it. There is, however, a children's book by this author that is among my favorite fictions, and this is called 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories'. I recommend it to everyone.
The birdidae article is undoubtedly the best in the 'pedia. I can personally vouch for the completeness and accuracy of this article, having earned a Doctorate in Birdidology from Oxford.
