Willughby’s angel: the pintailed sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata)

Charmantier, Isabelle; Birkhead, Tim R.

doi:10.1007/s10336-008-0298-6

Cited by 2 publications

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References 6 publications

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“…1 Presumably to enhance these descriptions, both the Latin (1676) and English (1678) editions were illustrated by an identical set of 78 plates at the end of the book; black and white engravings derived from a variety of published sources (e.g. Gessner 1555; Belon 1555; Aldrovandi 1599-1603; Olina 1622; Jonston 1650), paintings, information from various explorers, and the observations that Willughby and Ray themselves made on their travels around Europe, both in nature and in private collections (Raven 1950; see also Charmantier and Birkhead 2008). Some of the representations of birds on these engravings are both aesthetically pleasing and scientifically accurate, such as those derived from Olina (1622), while others, like some of those copied from Marcgrave (1648), tend to be rather poor, especially as some of these are fanciful 'species'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Samuel Pepys’s hand-coloured copy of John Ray’s ‘The Ornithology of Francis Willughby’ (1678)

Montgomerie

Birkhead

2009

J Ornithol

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We describe a unique, hand-coloured copy of Ray's (1678) The Ornithology of Francis Willughby that was apparently presented to Samuel Pepys between 1684 and 1686 during his presidency of the Royal Society. Somehow, this volume was not catalogued as part of Pepys's famous library, and fell into private hands until, in 1924, it was purchased for the McGill University Library in Montreal. More than 90% of the original engravings of birds in this volume are hand-coloured, making this a unique attempt to depict a large proportion of the known birds of the world in colour, and providing interesting insights into knowledge of bird colouration in the seventeenth century. The colouring of the 332 bird species on 76 hand-coloured plates is generally quite accurate-in the instances where the colouring is incorrect, it usually matches the description in Ray's text almost exactly.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Samuel Pepys’s hand-coloured copy of John Ray’s ‘The Ornithology of Francis Willughby’ (1678)

Montgomerie

Birkhead

2009

J Ornithol

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History of Ornithology

Birkhead

Charmantier

2009

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Before the seventeenth century, interest in birds centred largely on folklore and their symbolic significance. Ray and Willughby's encyclopaedia, the Ornithology of Francis Willughby (1676 and 1678) marked a turning point in the study of birds by rejecting folklore and focussing especially on biology. Following Ray's Wisdom of God (1691), which addressed ultimate causes, the study of birds developed along two separate strands: (i) systematics, nomenclature and faunistics (inspired by Ornithology ) and (ii) natural history (inspired by Wisdom ). The first of these endeavours dominated ornithology for the next 250 years, and were the main focus of the ornithological Unions founded in the 1800s. The two strands were reunited in the 1920s (central Europe) and 1940s (the UK and the USA). After World War II not only the expansion of higher education resulted in a huge increase in both the number of professional ornithologists, but also our knowledge of avian natural history and evolution. Key concepts The study of birds began with Aristotle, but stagnated between the first century ad and the Renaissance. Ornithology became scientific with the abandonment of emblematics in the 1670s. John Ray initiated two strands of ornithology: systematics and natural history (field ornithology) in the late 1600s. Systematic ornithology focussed on the naming and classification of birds, and later, their geographical distribution. The natural history of birds (field ornithology) focussed on behaviour, ecology and ultimate causes. Ornithological encyclopedias were a product of the Renaissance. After the Renaissance ornithology became increasingly specialized. Charles Darwin's concepts of natural and sexual selection in the mid‐late 1800s were important in encouraging scientific interest in birds. The two strands of ornithology, systematics and natural history, were re‐united in the 1920s (Germany) and 1940s (the UK and the USA). The modernization of ornithology during the twentieth century occurred largely as a result of the conceptual unification of evolutionary thinking in the 1940s and the focus on individual selection in the 1970s.

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Willughby’s angel: the pintailed sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata)

Cited by 2 publications

References 6 publications

Samuel Pepys’s hand-coloured copy of John Ray’s ‘The Ornithology of Francis Willughby’ (1678)

Samuel Pepys’s hand-coloured copy of John Ray’s ‘The Ornithology of Francis Willughby’ (1678)

History of Ornithology

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