revised extracts from Whose Bird by Bo Beolens & Mike Watkins

Ayers

Ayres’ Cisticola Cisticola ayresii (Hartlaub 1863)

(Alt. Wing-snapping Cisticola)

Ayres’ Hawk-Eagle Hieraaetus ayresii (dubius) (Gurney 1862)

(Alt. Ayres’ Eagle)

Thomas Ayres (1828–1913) was a British-born collector and naturalist. He went to Pinetown in Natal, South Africa in 1850 and set about collecting birds. These he sent to Gurney in Norwich, England. Gurney published a series of 11 papers in Ibis between 1859 and 1873, describing the species which Ayres collected. He visited Australia and tried his luck in the goldfields there in 1852, but then returned to South Africa to settle in Potchefstroom as a hunter and trader. He was obviously eager to make his fortune out of gold, as in the early 1870s he was prospecting on the Lydenburg goldfields. He collected birds, beetles, butterflies and moths. At least 60 species, which were collected around Potch, are now very rare. His house was named the Ark as it was ‘long, low and stuffed with animals and birds’. He was a mentor to the young Roberts’ boys (Austin Roberts) and accompanied a lot of the legendary hunters on expeditions, for example to Mashona­land. One of these was James Jameson. The collection of birds made on such expeditions was documented in a paper by Shelley in Ibis in 1882. After he returned to South Africa, he even operated a brewery for a couple of years making Ayres XX Pale Ale. Many people spoke highly of this beer including, it is rumoured, Captain William Cloudsley Lucas of the Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry, which was stationed at Rustenberg. Lucas wrote to Ayres saying that the beer had cured him of ‘...nightly sweatings, terrible affections in the lumbar regions, and a chronic costiveness that had lasted eighteen years.’ Most unfortunately, Ayres had to close down the brewery when the government changed the law and it became illegal for private people to brew beer on a commercial basis.

Baillon

Baillon’s Crake Porzana pusilla (Pallas 1776)

(Alt. Marsh Crake)

Jean François Emmanuel Baillon (1744-1802) was a lawyer as well as a collector and naturalist from Abbeville, France. His son Louis Antoine François was also a naturalist and collector.

Barratt

Barratt’s Warbler Bradypterus barratti (Sharpe 1876)

(Alt. African Scrub Warbler)

F A Barratt (c.1847-1875) was a collector in the Transvaal. Sharpe described the warbler from a specimen collected in the Transvaal and sent to the British Museum by Barratt in 1875.

Bennett

Bennett’s Woodpecker Campethera bennetti (A Smith 1836)

Edward Turner Bennett (1797–1836) was a British natura­list. In 1822 he promoted the setting up of a London entomological club. This was developed in association with the Linnean Society into a zoological club which was the starting point for the establishment of the Zoological Society of London in 1826, of which he became the first vice-secretary. In 1831 he became secretary and held this post until his premature death in 1836, aged just 39 years. Andrew Smith, one of the most outstanding collectors and travellers of his era, named the woodpecker after him.

Botha

Botha’s Lark Spizocorys (Botha) fringillaris (Sundevall 1850)

General Louis Botha (1862-1919) was a soldier, who was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, from 1910 until 1919, having previously been the Prime Minister of the Transvaal in 1907. Shelley named the lark in his honour.

Bradfield

Bradfield’s Hornbill Tockus bradfieldi (Roberts 1930)

Bradfield’s Lark Mirafra naevia (Strickland 1853)

(Alt. Large-billed Sabota Lark)

Bradfield’s Swift Apus bradfieldi (Roberts 1926)

R D Bradfield (1882–1949) was a South African farmer, naturalist and collector, who lived in Namibia for most of his life with his wife, Marjorie Bradfield. Austin Roberts named the Hornbill after Bradfield, who collected the first specimen near their farm Quickborn at the Waterberg, near Okahandja, Namibia, and sent them to him at the Transvaal Museum. In 1935 Bradfield named a race of another species of swift, apus melba marjoriae, after his wife.  

Burchell

Burchell’s’ Bustard Neotis denhami burchellii

(Alt. Denham’s Bustard)

Burchell’s Coucal Centropus (superciliosus) burchellii (Swainson 1838)

Burchell’s Courser Cursorius rufus (Gould 1837)

Burchell’s Gonolek Laniarius atrococcineus (Burchell 1822)

(Alt. Crimson-breasted Shrike)

Burchell’s Sandgrouse Pterocles burchelli (W L Sclater 1922)

Burchell’s Starling Lamprotornis australis (A Smith 1836)

William John Burchell (1781-1863) was an English explorer-naturalist who went to the Cape of Good Hope in 1810 and undertook a major exploration of interior South Africa between 1811 and 1815, during which he travelled more than 7,000 km through largely unexplored country. He published his two-volume work, Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, in 1822 and 1824. Burchell was the first person to describe the White Rhinoceros Cera­totherium simum. He was renowned as a meticulous collector, botanist and artist. Among the species named in his honour are Burchell’s Zebra Equus burchellii and a small forest tree Burchellia bubalina. He returned to London in 1815 to work on his collections. In 1825 he spent two months in Lisbon and then proceeded to Brazil where he collected extensively, not returning again to England until 1830. He became increasingly reclusive and in the last two years of his life became seriously ill, eventually taking his own life. The status of Burchell’s Bustard is very uncertain as it is only known from the type specimen taken in east Sudan.

Carp

Carp’s Black Tit Parus carpi (Macdonald & B P Hall 1957)

Bernhard Carp (1901–1966) was a Dutch-born South African businessman and Cape Town naturalist, who sponsored many collecting expeditions, particularly to Namibia, by the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam University. The businessman and hunter bought important mammal collections in South Africa and donated them to the museum. Political considerations made it difficult but after some time the board of the university decided to accept the very important collection, which included rare Lagomorph skins and skulls. Carp wrote an autobiography entitled Why I Chose Africa. The tit was collected in 1951 and was originally described as a subspecies of the Southern Black Tit Parus niger carpi.

Denham

Denham’s Bustard Neotis denhami (Children 1826)

(Alt. Stanley’s/Jackson’s Bustard)

Dixon Denham FRS (1786–1828) was an English soldier, a lieutenant-colonel, who explored very extensively in many parts of Africa. His exploits included a crossing of the Sahara from Tripoli to Lake Chad with Clapperton. He was also a fine illustrator. Denham became Governor-General of Sierra Leone, where he died of fever. The tree Meryta denhami in New Caledonia is named in his honour. He wrote Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in 1826.

Gray, J

Gray’s Brush Turkey Macrocephalon maleo (S Müller 1846)

(Alt. Maleo/Maleofowl])

Gray’s Goshawk Accipiter henicogrammus (G R Gray 1861)

(Alt. Moluccan Goshawk)

Gray’s Greybird Coracina schisticeps (G R Gray 1846)

(Alt. Grey-headed Cuckoo-shrike, White-winged/Philippine Greybird)

Gray’s Honeyeater Xanthotis polygramma (G R Gray 1862)

(Alt. [Many-]Spotted Honeyeater)

Gray’s Lark Ammomanes grayi (Wahlberg 1855)

(Gray’s Sandlark)

Gray’s Malimbe Malimbus nitens (J E Gray 1831)

Gray’s Oriole Oriolus phaeochromus (G R Gray 1861)

(Alt. Dusky(Brown)/Halmahera/Moluccan Oriole)

Gray’s Sapphire Hylocharis grayi (DeLattre & Bourcier 1846)

(Alt. Blue-headed/Puritan Sapphire)

John Edward Gray (1800–1875) was a British ornithologist and entomologist. He started work at the British Museum in 1824, with a temporary appointment at 15 shillings a day, but between 1840 and 1874 he was Curator of Birds and then head of the Department of Zoology. Gray published descriptions of a large number of animal species, in­clud­ing many Australian reptiles and mammals. He was the leading authority on many reptiles, including turtles. Gray was also an ardent philatelist and claimed that he was the world’s first stamp collector. He worked at the museum with his brother George Robert Gray (see above) and together they published a Catalogue of the Mammalia and Birds of New Guinea in the Collection of the British Museum in 1859. He wrote Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall, published between 1846 and 1850, which was illustrated by Lear. Gray suffered a severe stroke which paralysed his right side, includ­ing his writing hand, in 1869. Yet he continued to publish to the end of his life by dictating to his wife, Maria Emma; she had always worked with him as an artist and occasional co-author.

Gurney

Gurney’s Buzzard Buteo poecilochrous (Gurney 1879)

(Alt. Puna Hawk)

Gurney’s Eagle Aquila gurneyi (G R Gray 1861)

Gurney’s Ground Thrush Zoothera gurneyi (Hartlaub 1864)

(Alt. Orange [Ground] Thrush)

Gurney’s Pitta Pitta gurneyi (Hume 1875)

(Alt. Black-breasted Pitta)

Gurney’s Sugarbird Promerops gurneyi (J Verreaux 1871)

John Henry Gurney (1819-1890) was a banker in Norwich, England, and an amateur ornithologist who worked at the British Natural History Museum. Most of his writing was on the birds of his own county. However, he also wrote on collections of African birds, as well as editing the works of others. His son, who shared the same name, (1848-1922), was also an ornithologist. Hume named the Pitta as a tribute to his ornithological colleague J H Gurney (the elder).

Hartlaub

Hartlaub’s Babbler Turdoides hartlaubii (Bocage 1868)

(Alt. Angola Babbler)

Hartlaub’s Bustard Lissotis hartlaubii (Heuglin 1863)

Hartlaub’s Duck Pteronetta hartlaubi hartlaubii (Cassin 1860)

(Alt. Hartlaub’s Goose/Teal)

Hartlaub’s Francolin Francolinus (Pternistis) hartlaubi (Bocage 1870 1869)

Hartlaub’s Gull Larus (novaehollandiae) hartlaubii (Bruch 1853)

(Alt. King Gull)

Hartlaub’s Jay Cissilopha melanocyaneus (Fischer & Reichenow 1884)

(Alt. Bushy-crested Jay)

Hartlaub’s Marsh Widow Euplectes hartlaubi (Bocage 1878)

(Alt. Marsh Widowbird)

Hartlaub’s Scrubfowl  Megapodius eremita (Hartlaub, 1868)

Hartlaub’s Sheathbill Chionis minor (Fischer & Reichenow 1904)

(Alt. Black-faced/Kerguelen/Lesser Sheathbill)

Hartlaub’s Sunbird Nectarinia hartlaubi (Hartlaub 1857)

(Alt. Príncipe Sunbird)

Hartlaub’s Turaco Tauraco hartlaubi (Fischer & Reichenow 1884)

Hartlaub’s Warbler Parula superciliosa (Hartlaub 1844)

(Alt. Crescent-chested Warbler)

Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub (1814-1900) was an academic and explorer. He was Professor of Zoology at Bremen. He trained as a medical doctor but his hobby was ‘exotic’ ornithology and he published a number of papers on African birds including checklists. He also founded the Journal für Ornithologie with Cabanis. Many people sent him specimens that he eventually gave to the Hamburg Museum. He was the first person to describe over 30 Southern African birds. He wrote System der Ornithologie Westafrikas 1857 and Die Vögel Madagaskars und benachbarten Inselgruppen 1897 and two books with Finsch as co-author: Beitrag zu Fauna Westpolynesiens 1867 and Die Vögel Ostafrikas 1870.

Jameson

Jameson’s Antpecker Parmoptila jamesoni rubifrons jamesoni (Shelley 1890)

(Alt. Red-fronted Flowerpecker/Antpecker, Jameson’s Hylia-finch )

Jameson’s Firefinch Lagonosticta rhodopareia (Heuglin 1868)

(Alt. Pink-backed Firefinch)

Jameson’s Wattle-eye Platysteira jamesoni (Sharpe 1890)

James Sligo Jameson (1856–1888) was an Irish hunter, explorer and naturalist. He collected in Borneo, South Africa, Spain, Algeria, the Rocky Mountains and, finally, in the Belgian Congo, where he died of haemorrhagic fever, at Bangala, whilst on an expedition with Stanley to rescue Emin Pasha. According to his obituary in The Times of 8 November 1890, he witnessed a cannibal banquet in the Upper Congo and was accused by Stanley of instigating it. He wrote Story of the Rear Column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, which was published posthumously in 1890.

Kittlitz

Kittlitz’s Crake Porzana monasa (Kittlitz 1858) [Extinct]

(Alt. Kosrae/Kusai/Ponape Crake)

Kittlitz’s Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris (Vigors 1829)

Kittlitz’s Plover Charadrius pecuarius (Temminck 1823)

(Alt. Kittlitz’s Sandplover)

Kittlitz’s Starling Aplonis corvina (Kittlitz 1833)

(Alt. Kosrae/Kusai [Mountain] Starling)

Kittlitz’s Thrush Zoothera terrestris (Kittlitz 1830) [Extinct]

(Alt. Bonin Thrush)

Kittlitz’s Woodpigeon Columba versicolor (Kittlitz 1832)

(Alt. Bonin Woodpigeon/Shining Pigeon/Bonin Black Pigeon/Bonin Fruit Pigeon)

Friedrich Heinrich Freiherr von Kittlitz (1799–1874) was a Polish-born German artist, naval officer, explorer and ornithologist. He was a friend of Eduard Rüppell who encouraged his interest in natural history and he went with him to North Africa in 1831. Between 1826 and 1829 he undertook a round-the-world journey under Lutke, the ‘Senjavin’ Expedition, following which he published Twenty-Four Views of the Vegetation of the Coasts and Islands of the Pacific, in 1861. He was the first person to collect the murrelet.

Klaas

Klaas’ Cuckoo Chrysococcyx klaas (Stephens 1815)

Levaillant named Klaas’ Cuckoo after his Khoi Khoi (Hottentot) servant, who presumably found the bird in 1784. No more is known about him.

Layard

Layard’s Black-headed Weaver Ploceus nigriceps (Layard 1867)

(Alt. Layard’s Weaver)

Layard’s Chat Cercomela tractrac (Wilkes 1817)

(Alt. Tractrac Chat)

Layard’s Flycatcher Muscicapa muttui (Layard 1854)

(Alt. Brown-breasted Flycatcher)

Layard’s Parakeet Psittacula calthorpae (Blyth 1849)

(Alt. Emerald-collared Parakeet)

Layard’s Seedeater Serinus leucopterus (Sharpe 1871)

(Alt. White-winged/Protea Seedeater, Protea Canary)

Layard’s Tit-Babbler Parisoma (Sylvia) layardi (Hartlaub 1862)

(Alt. Layard’s Tit-Warbler)

Layard’s White-eye Zosterops explorator (Layard 1875)

Edgar Leopold Layard (1824–1900) was born in Italy. He spent ten years in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) before going to the Cape Colony of South Africa as a civil servant in 1854, on the staff of the Governor Sir George Grey. In 1855 he became Curator of the South African Museum in his spare time. He collected locally and obtained the tit-babbler in South Africa from Roussouw, although people sent him specimens from wider afield. Layard later worked in Brazil, Fiji and New Caledonia. He wrote The Birds of South Africa, in 1867, which was later updated by Sharpe. The parakeet’s specific name is after his first wife, whose maiden surname was Calthorp.

Levaillant J

Levaillant’s Cisticola Cisticola tinniens (Lichtenstein 1842)

(Alt. Tinkling Cisticola)

Levaillant’s Green Woodpecker Picus vaillantii (Malherbe 1847)

(Alt. Algerian Green Woodpecker, Levaillant’s Woodpecker)

Commandant J J R Levaillant (1793-fl. 1856) was the son of François LeVaillant. He was in Algeria from 1850 to 1853, having already been to North Africa as part of a scientific expedition.

Livingstone

Livingstone’s [Yellow] Flycatcher Erythrocercus livingstonei (G R Gray 1870)

(Alt. Livingstone’s Monarch)

Livingstone’s Lourie Tauraco livingstonii (G R Gray 1864)

(Alt. Livingstone’s Turaco)

David Livingstone (1813–1873) was a Scottish doctor and missionary, and undoubtedly the most famous African explorer. Livingstone is remembered as the first European to have gone into the heart of Africa, and as someone who came to be regarded as a saint in his own lifetime. He worked in a cotton mill from the age of ten, earning extra income by selling tea from farm to farm. He studied Latin and Greek on his own, and elected to become a mis­sion­ary when he was persuaded that science and theology were not in opposition, training at the London Missionary Society and, in medicine, in Glasgow. Living­stone left for South Africa in 1840. His many expeditions brought him fame as a surgeon and scientist over the next few years, but his missionary efforts were less successful. He sympathised with the lot of the indigenous people and so made enemies among white settlers. It annoyed many that he learned the languages and tribal customs of the people he tried to convert. Nevertheless, his indictment of the slave trade did much to make anti-slavery laws enforced. In 1853 his expedition into the interior of the continent lasted three years. He discovered the Victoria Falls during this trip, a find which sealed his fame on his return to Britain in 1856. His last expedition, begun in 1866, was to search for the source of the Nile. False reports of his death, and the public’s ‘need to know’ where the lost explorer was, led to Stanley’s equally famous mission to find him. According to some sources, the Touraco was named after Charles Livingstone, David’s younger brother

Ludwig

Ludwig’s Bustard Neotis ludwigii (Rüppell 1837)

Ludwig’s Double-collared Sunbird Cinnyris ludovicensis (Bocage 1868)

Alt. Montane Double-collared Sunbird; Angola Double-collared Sunbird; Preuss’s Double-collared Sunbird

Baron Carl Friedrich von Ludwig (1784–1847) went to Cape Town as a pharmacist in 1805. He married well and became a well-known collector who sent many specimens to German museums. Bocage probably had this man in mind when he described and named the Sunbird (see also entry for Preuss for explanation of different scientific names and describers). It is just possible, but in our view not as likely that Bocage had in mind King Fernando II (1816-1885). He was the eldest son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and was christened Ferdinand, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and among his other first names was probably Ludwig. His name was turned into a Portuguese form when he married Queen Maria II and he became King Consort of Portugal and the Algarves until her death in 1853, after which he acted as Regent for his son Pedro V. His younger brother was Albert, the Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria of The United Kingdom. Rüppell described and named the bustard after him.

Meve

Meves’ Long-tailed Glossy Starling Lamprotornis mevesii (Wahlberg 1856)

(Alt. Southern Long-tailed Glossy Starling)

Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Meves (1814-1891) was a German ornithologist, zoologist and teacher who for much of his life, worked for the Zoological Museum in Stockholm. In 1840, before moving to Sweden, he worked in the Anatomical/Zoological Museum at Kiel where he made contact with the ornithologist Fr. Boie. Boie had Swedish connections (he taught at Uppala), and through him, Meves became a curator at the Riksmuseet’s Zoological department in 1841. He stayed in that job until 1877 and in those 36 years he took part in many expeditions both in Sweden and abroad and made many valuable additions to the Museum’s collections. He published several ornithological works including Overview of Royal Science Academy Collections in 1854, Contribution to Swedish Ornithology in 1868, Ornithological Observations in Northwest Russia 1869 in 1871 and Uber den Schnurrlaut der Bekassine in 1876, Neue Beobachtungen und Untersuchungen ueber Schwedische Voegel 1861; Om Färgförändringen hos Foglarna med och utan Ruggning 1854 (Extract on the change of colour in birds, with and without moulting). Wahlberg, who was his pupil, described the Glossy Starling.

Monteiro

Monteiro’s Bush Shrike Malaconotus monteiri (Sharpe 1870)

Monteiro’s Golden Weaver Ploceus xanthops (Hartlaub 1862)

(Alt. Holub’s Golden Weaver)

Monteiro’s Hornbill Tockus monteiri (Hartlaub 1865)

Monteiro’s Twinspot Clytospiza monteiri (Hartlaub 1860)

(Alt. Brown Twinspot)

Joachim John (João, José) Montero (1833-1878) was a Portuguese mining engineer who had English ancestors - hence "John" (with alternatives). He collected natural history specimens in Angola from 1860 until 1875. In 1875 he wrote Angola and the River Congo.

Narina

Narina’s Trogon Apaloderma narina (Stephens 1815)

Narina was a beautiful Khoi Khoi (Hottentot) girl. The bird was named by Le Vaillant, whose mistress she probably was, according to Lesson. Le Vaillant said: ‘I found her name difficult to be pronounced, disagreeable to the ear, and very insignificant according to my ideas; I therefore gave her a new one and called her Narina, which in the Hottentot language signifies a flower.’ Stephens described the trogon in 1815.

Neergaard

Neergaard’s Sunbird Nectarinia neergaardi (C H B Grant 1908)

(Alt. Neergaard’s Double-collared Sunbird)

P Neergaard was a recruiting official for the Witwatersrand mines in southern Africa, in 1907. He assisted C H B Grant on his expedition.

Pel

Pel’s Fishing Owl Scotopelia peli (Bonaparte 1850)

Hendrik Severinus Pel (1818-1876) was the Dutch Governor of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) between 1840 and 1850. He was an amateur naturalist but also a trained taxidermist, and acted as such for the Dutch State Museum of Natural History. He first described the bird around 1851. In 1851 he published Over de jagt aan de Goudkust, volgens eene tienjarige eigene ondervinding. He is remembered in the scientific name of the Bristle-nosed Barbet Gymnobucco peli, and he is also commemorated in the mammal, Pel’s Anomalure Anomalurus peli and two fish species found off the West African coast - the Pebbletooth Moray Echidna peli, and Boe Drum Pteroscion peli.

Retz

Retz’s [Red-billed] Helmet-shrike Prionops retzii (Wahlberg 1856)

(Alt. Red-billed Helmet-shrike)

Anders Jahan Retzius (1742-1821) was a Swedish naturalist and Professor of Natural History, Economy and Chemistry in Lund. Wahlberg was helped financially by Anders Retzius, who was his brother-in-law and he probably named the after him or, possibly after one of his nephews sons; Anders Adolph Retzius (1796–1860), who was Professor in Anatomy and Physi­ology at the Karolinska Institute or Carl Gustaf Retzius (1798–1833), who was a veter­inary professor in Stockholm.

Rudd

Rudd’s Apalis Apalis ruddi (Grant 1908)

Rudd’s [Long-clawed] Lark Mirafra ruddi (Grant 1908)

Charles Dunnel Rudd (1844-1916) was an associate of Cecil Rhodes and attended to their mining business while Rhodes got himself into politics, obtained the concession, in 1883, to go into Mashonaland to establish mining, and founded Rhodesia. Rudd financed Captain C H B Grant who described and perhaps found both the apalis and the lark.

Rüppell

Rüppell’s Bustard Eupodotis rueppellii (Wahlberg 1856)

(Alt. Rüppell’s Korhaan)

Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture Gyps rueppellii (A E Brehm 1852)

(Alt. Rüppell’s Vulture/Griffon)

Rüppell’s Long-tailed Glossy Starling Lamprotornis purpuropterus (J & E Verreaux 1851)

Rüppell’s Parrot Poicephalus rueppellii (G R Gray 1849)

Rüppell’s [Black] Robin-Chat  Myrmecocichla semirufa (Rüppell 1837)

(Alt. Black-tailed Robin-Chat)

Rüppell’s Shrike Eurocephalus rueppelli (Bonaparte 1853)

(Alt. White-rumped Shrike)

Rüppell’s Warbler Sylvia rueppelli (Temminck 1823)

Rüppell’s Weaver Ploceus galbula (Rüppell 1840)

Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell (1794-1884) was a German collector. He first went to Egypt and ascended the Nile as far as Aswan in 1817 and later made two extended expeditions to Northern and Eastern Africa in the first quarter of the 19^th Century, the first from 1821 until 1827 to Sudan and the second between 1830 and 1834 to Ethiopia. Abdim Bey helped him in Egypt. Although he brought back large zoological and ethnographical collections, his expeditions impoverished him. Kittlitz went on his second expedition. He wrote Reisen in Nubien, Kordofan und dem Petraischen Arabien in 1829, Systematische Ubersicht der Vogel Nord-ost-Afrikas in 1845 and Reise in Abyssynien (Travels in Abyssinia). 1838 to 1840. He was also a collector in the broadest sense of the word and presented his collection of coins and rare manuscripts to the Historical Museum in Frankfurt (his home town). Rüppell's Fox Vulpes rueppelli is named after him.

Schalow

Schalow’s Turaco Tauraco schalowi (Reichenow 1891)

Schalow’s Wheatear Oenanthe lugubris (Rüppell 1837)

 (Alt. Abyssinian Black Wheatear)

Hermann Schalow (1852-1925) was a German banker in Berlin and an amateur ornithologist. He worked with both Cabanis and Reichenow. In 1886 he wrote Die Musophagidae and, in 1919, Beitrage zur Vogelfauna der Mark Brandenburg. In 1922 he gave his library to the German Ornithological Society, of which he was President from 1907 to 1921. After his death it was given to the Zoological Museum in Berlin and was  named the Schalow Library in his honour. The Wheatear was split in 1990 from Oenanthe lugubris as it had formerly been considered a sub-species.

Shelley

Shelley’s Crimsonwing Cryptospiza shelleyi (Alexander 1899)

(Alt. Red-billed Crimsonwing)

Shelley’s Eagle Owl Bubo shelleyi (Sharpe & Ussher 1872)

(Alt. Banded Eagle Owl )

Shelley’s Francolin Francolinus shelleyi (Ogilvie-Grant 1890)

Shelley’s Greenbul Andropadus masukuensis (G Shelley 1897)

Shelley’s Oliveback Nesocharis shelleyi (Alexander 1903)

(Alt. Fernando Pó Oliveback, Little Olive Weaver/Waxbill)

Shelley’s Red-throated Sunbird Anthreptes rhodolaema (G Shelley 1878)

(Alt. Red/Rufous-shouldered/Rufous-throated Sunbird, Shelley’s     [Eastern] Sunbird)

Shelley’s Rufous Sparrow Passer motitensis shelleyi (Sharpe 1891)

(Alt. Kenya Rufous Sparrow)

Shelley’s Starling Lamprotornis shelleyi (Sharpe 1890)

Shelley’s Sunbird Nectarinia shelleyi (Alexander 1899)

(Alt. Shelley’s African/Double-collared Sunbird)

Captain George Ernest Shelley (1840–1910), a nephew of the famous poet, was a geologist who became interested in ornithology. He was educated in England and at the Lycée de Versailles, after which he joined the Grenadier Guards in 1863, retiring a few years later with the rank of captain. The government of South Africa sent him on a geological survey. He wrote books on the birds of Egypt and a review of sunbirds; A Monograph of the Nectariniidae, in 1880. He collected in Africa, Australia and Burma but suffered a paralysing stroke in 1906, which prevented him travelling further.

Sloggett

Sloggett's Vlei Rat Otomys sloggetti (Thomas, 1902)

[Alt. Sloggett's Ice-Rat]

Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Thomas Sloggett RA, MC (1857-1929) was a Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was in charge of No. 21 General Hospital at Deelfontein in Cape Colony during the Boer War. He was on duty at the hospital from March 1900 until the cessation of hostilities. He eventually became Surgeon-General and Director-General of Medical Services in the British Army and in that capacity in 1916 received a report on the introduction of steel helmets! He must have had an interest in natural history as he presented a collection of mammals from Deelfontein to the British Museum – it is not recorded but we suspect the specimen was among them. The rat is found in South Africa and also in Lesotho.

Souza

Souza’s Shrike Lanius souzae (Bocage 1878)

Souza’s Tchagra Tchagra australis souzae (Bocage 1892)

(Alt. Brown-headed Tchagra/Bush Shrike)

José Augusto de Souza (1837–1889) was a Portuguese ornithologist who was the Director of Ornithology at the Museum of Lisbon. He wrote numerous articles on African birds although he never visited Africa.

Stark

Stark’s Lark Eremalauda starki (Shelley 1902)

Arthur Cowell Stark (1846–1899) was a British physician and naturalist who travelled widely to collect birds. He was co-author, with W L Sclater, of Fauna of South Africa. He was killed by shellfire during the Boer War at the siege of Ladysmith.

Stierling

Stierling’s Barred Warbler Calamonastes [Camaroptera] stierlingi (Reichenow 1901)

(Alt. Stierling’s/Barred/Miombo Wren-Warbler, Barred Bush Warbler)

Stierling’s Woodpecker Dendropicos stierlingi (Reichenow 1901)

Dr N Stierling was a German naturalist who collected in Nyasaland (now Malawi) and Tanganyika (now Tanzania) between 1887 and 1901. He was a doctor with the German Colonial forces in German East Africa and had to help deal with a cholera outbreak in Zanzibar during the Maji-Maji rebellion. Reichenow named both birds after Dr Stierling.

Swainson

Swainson’s Antbird Myrmeciza longipes (Swainson 1825)

(Alt. White-bellied Antbird)

Swainson’s Cuckoo-shrike Coracina lineata lineate (Swainson 1825)           

(Alt. Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Swainson’s Grauculus)

Swainson’s Fire-eye Pyriglena atra (Swainson 1825)

(Alt. Fringe-backed Fire-eye)

Swainson’s Flycatcher Myiarchus swainsoni (Cabanis & Heine 1859)

Swainson’s Francolin Francolinus swainsonii (A Smith 1836)

(Alt. Swainson’s Spurfowl)

Swainson’s Fruit Pigeon Ptilinopus regina (Swainson 1825)

(Alt. Ewing’s Fruit Pigeon, Rosy-crowned Fruit Dove)

Swainson’s Glossy Starling Lamprotornis chloropterus  (Swainson 1838)

(Alt. Miombo/Southern/Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling)

Swainson’s Hawk Buteo swainsonii (Bonaparte 1838)

Swainson’s Hummingbird Avocettula recurvirostris (Swainson 1822)

(Alt. Fiery-tailed Awlbill)

Swainson’s Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus (J F Gmelin 1788)

(Alt. Rainbow Lorikeet/Lory)

Swainson’s Royal Flycatcher Onychorhynchus coronatus swainsoni (Pelzeln 1858)

(Alt. Atlantic Royal Flycatcher)

Swainson’s Sparrow Passer griseus swainsonii (Rüppell 1840)

(Alt. Northern Grey-headed Sparrow)

Swainson’s Tanager Piranga bidentata (Swainson 1827)

(Alt. Flame-coloured Tanager)

Swainson’s Thrush Catharus ustulatus (Nuttall 1840)

(Alt. Olive-backed Thrush)

Swainson’s Toucan Ramphastos swainsonii (Gould 1843)

(Alt. Chestnut-mandibled Toucan)

Swainson’s Vireo Vireo gilvus (Vieillot 1808)

(Alt. Eastern Warbling Vireo, Warbling Vireo)

Swainson’s Warbler Limnothlypis swainsonii (Audubon 1834)

Swainson’s Weaver Ploceus nigricollis brachypterus (Swainson 1837)

(Alt. Black-necked Weaver)

William Swainson (1789-1855) was a naturalist and bird illustrator. He was born in Liverpool, the son of a collector of customs duty. After elementary education, he worked as a junior clerk and then in the army commissariat, in Malta and Sicily. Before going abroad he drew up, at the request of the Liverpool Museum, the Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Subjects of Natural History, which was privately printed in Liverpool in 1808. He served for eight years from 1807 to 1815 with the army commissariat and amassed a very large collection of zoological speci­mens. At the end of the Napoleonic wars he retired on half-pay. In 1816 he left for Brazil and travelled, collecting specimens, through Pernambuco to the Rio São Francisco and then on to Rio de Janeiro. On his return, in 1818, he published a sketch of his journey in the Edinburgh Philo­sophical Journal, in 1819, very briefly describing the voyage without any scientific detail. He then endeavoured to sort his zoological specimens. He learned the new technique of lithography and produced Zoological Illustration in three volumes, from 1820 to 1823, the Naturalists Guide, in 1822 and Exotic Conchology. In 1828 he visited museums in Paris under the guidance of Cuvier and St Hilaire, meeting the other great French naturalists. In the same year he moved to the English countryside and worked as a full-time artist and author. In 1840 he left for New Zealand and became the country’s first Attorney General. Unfortunately most of his specimen collection was lost on the voyage. He remained in New Zealand for the rest of his life. Swainson was a Fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Royal Society, as well as of numerous foreign academies. He published many papers, as well as Birds of Brazil, which appeared in five parts between 1834 and 1835. He wrote the bird section of Sir John Richardson’s Fauna Boreali-Americana and contributed to the 11 volumes of Lardner’s Cabinet Encyclopaedia, from 1834 until 1840 and the three volumes of Jardine’s Naturalist’s Library, from 1833 to 1846. Andrew Smith named the francolin after him and Bonaparte named the hawk in his honour. Audubon named the warbler after him and Nuttal the thrush. Stresemann described the glossy starling, elisabeth being named after his wife. The subspecies of the Rainbow Lorikeet is native to the islands of the Torres Strait and northeastern Australia.

Verreaux, J B

Verreaux’s Eagle Aquila verreauxii (Lesson 1831)

(Alt. Black Eagle)

Jean Baptiste Edouard Verreaux (1810-1868) was brother to Jules (see below) and was also a French naturalist, collector and dealer. They both worked in China and in South Africa’s Cape Colony. There was a third brother, Joseph Alexis Verreaux, yet another naturalist, who lived in Cape Town and also died in 1868. The Verreaux family traded in Paris from a huge emporium for stuffed birds and feathers, which they called the Maison Verreaux. They were clearly ambitious taxidermists and gained notoriety on account of having once attended the funeral of a tribal chief, whose body they then disinterred, took to Cape Town and stuffed! The Catalán veterinarian Francisco Darder, then curator of the zoo of Barcelona, purchased the ‘specimen’ from one of the brothers’ sons, Edouard Verreaux, in 1888. This controversial exhibit was on show in Barcelona until the end of the 20th century, when the man’s descendants demanded that it should be returned for a decent burial.

Victorin

Victorin’s Warbler Bradypterus victorini (Sundevall 1860)

(Alt. Victorin’s Scrub Warbler)

Johan Frederik Victorin (1831-1855) was a Swedish traveller who visited South Africa’s Cape Colony, between 1853 and 1855, where he died of tuberculosis. He wrote Resa I kaplandet åren 1853–1855 (Journey to the Cape Land in the Years 1853–1855) and Jakt och naturbilder (Hunting and Nature Scenes), which was published in 1863. Sundevall named the warbler in Victorin’s honour after his early death. "The Khoi herders who lived off its natural bounty considered the area a paradise, calling it Outeniqua ("the man laden with honey"). This Eden was quickly destroyed in the eighteenth century with the arrival of Dutch woodcutters , who had exhausted the forests around Cape Town and set about doing the same in Outeniqua, killing or dispersing the Khoi and San in the process. Birds and animals suffered too from the encroachment of Europeans. In the 1850s, the Swedish naturalist Johan Victorin shot and feasted on the species he had come to study, some of which, including the endangered narina trogon, he noted were both "beautiful and good to eat". "

Wahlberg

Wahlberg’s Cormorant Phalacrocorax neglectus (Wahlberg 1855)

(Syn. Bank Cormorant)

Wahlberg’s Eagle Aquila wahlbergi (Sundevall 1851)

Wahlberg’s Honeyguide Prodotiscus regulus (Sundevall 1850)

(Alt. Brown-backed Honeybird, Sharp-billed Honeyguide)

Johan August Wahlberg (1810-1856) was a Swedish naturalist and collector. He studied chemistry and phar­macy at Uppsala in 1829 and worked in a chemist’s shop in Stockholm whilst studying at the Skogsinstitutet (Forestry Institute). He travelled and collected widely in southern Africa between 1838 and 1856, sending thou­sands of specimens home to Sweden. He returned briefly to Sweden in 1853 but was soon back in Africa where he was in Walvis Bay until 1854. He was exploring the head­waters of the Limpopo when a wounded elephant killed him

Woodward 

Woodwards’ Barbet Stactolaema (olivacea) woodwardi (Shelley 1895)

Woodwards’ Batis Batis fratrum (Shelley 1900)

(Alt. Zululand Puffback Flycatcher)

The Reverend Robert B Woodward (1848–1899) and his brother John D S Woodward (1849–1899) were Anglican missionaries in Natal, South Africa, between 1881 and 1899. They were both deeply interested in ornithology and sent many specimens to Sharpe at the British Museum. They were co-authors of Natal Birds, which was published just before their deaths. The barbet has recently been proposed as a full species; it had hitherto been regarded as a subspecies of the Green Barbet S. olivacea.

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