Best known as the author of the pioneering Key to North American Birds, Elliott Coues (1842-99) was one of America's most renowned but least understood ornithologists and historians-as well as a naturalist, anatomist, taxonomist, writer and editor, Army surgeon on the American frontier, occultist, and the youngest person ever to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Now available in paperback, this comprehensive biography of a brilliant, ambitious, and phenomenally productive man ranks as the definitive life of Elliott Coues.
"Dan Fischer identifies those individuals who documented the natural history of the Southwest and summarizes their contributions to our knowledge about the region's birds - particularly through discovering and naming them. He tells why the ornithologists came to the region, what they saw, who described and named the new discoveries, and who were the first to sketch or paint new birds."--BOOK JACKET.
Lewis and Clark's Expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean was the first governmental exploration of the "Great West." The history of this undertaking is the personal narrative and official report of the first white men who crossed the continent between and British and Spanish possessions.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The first part contains information on collecting, preserving and preparing birds; classification and anatomy. The remainder of the work contains descriptions down to species, identification keys and illustrations, mainly black and white. Technical, classical work. Indexed. Published 1903.
This classic and widely influential work brings together the talents of the greatest American ornithologist of his generation (Coues), a pioneering nature writer/editor/ornithologist (Wright), and a young artist whose contribution to the American tradition of bird illustration proved to be second only to Audubon's own (Fuertes); this book features the first substantial body of his work. Directed at the general public, especially children, and written in an entertaining and fanciful fiction style, the work imparts solid scientific knowledge while inculcating conservation values. It exemplifies the extensive literature of popular yet scientifically-grounded ornithology which nurtured the national passion for birds in this era, thereby fostering some of conservationism's most vital and widespread grass roots. Women were particularly well-represented in this literature, often--like Wright--combining literary gifts with serious scientific knowledge (Wright was elected to membership in the American Ornithologists' Union) to bridge the widening gap between professional science and amateur nature-study, and often--as in this work--confirming contemporary expectations of gender roles by directing their writings particularly toward children.
In the decades following the Civil War--as industrialization, urbanization, and economic expansion increasingly reshaped the landscape--many Americans began seeking adventure and aesthetic gratification through avian pursuits. By the turn of the century, hundreds of thousands of middle-and upper-class devotees were rushing to join Audubon societies, purchase field guides, and keep records of the species they encountered in the wild. Mark Barrow vividly reconstructs this story not only through the experiences of birdwatchers, collectors, conservationists, and taxidermists, but also through those of a relatively new breed of bird enthusiast: the technically oriented ornithologist. In exploring how ornithologists struggled to forge a discipline and profession amidst an explosion of popular interest in natural history, A Passion for Birds provides the first book-length history of American ornithology from the death of John James Audubon to the Second World War. Barrow shows how efforts to form a scientific community distinct from popular birders met with only partial success. The founding of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1883 and the subsequent expansion of formal educational and employment opportunities in ornithology marked important milestones in this campaign. Yet by the middle of the twentieth century, when ornithology had finally achieved the status of a modern profession, its practitioners remained dependent on the services of birdwatchers and other amateur enthusiasts. Environmental issues also loom large in Barrow's account as he traces areas of both cooperation and conflict between ornithologists and wildlife conservationists. Recounting a colorful story based on the interactions among a wide variety of bird-lovers, this book will interest historians of science, environmental historians, ornithologists, birdwatchers, and anyone curious about the historical roots of today's birding boom.
