Alexander Wilson : The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology / Edward H. Burtt Jr.
Burtt Jr., Edward H., author.
2013
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Title Alexander Wilson : The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology / Edward H. Burtt Jr.
Author Burtt Jr., Edward H., author.
ISBN 9780674073739
DOI https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674073739
Published Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2013]
Copyright ©2013
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource (458 p.) : 146 color illustrations, 6 tables
Other Standard Identifiers 10.4159/harvard.9780674073739 doi
Dewey Decimal Classification 598.092
Summary Audubon was not the father of American ornithology. That honorific belongs to Alexander Wilson, whose encyclopedic American Ornithology established a distinctive approach that emphasized the observation of live birds. In the first full-length study to reproduce all of Wilson's unpublished drawings for the nine-volume Ornithology, Edward Burtt and William Davis illustrate Wilson's pioneering and, today, underappreciated achievement as the first ornithologist to describe the birds of the North American wilderness. Abandoning early ambitions to become a poet in the mold of his countryman Robert Burns, Wilson emigrated from Scotland to settle near Philadelphia, where the botanist William Bartram encouraged his proclivity for art and natural history. Wilson traveled 12,000 miles on foot, on horseback, in a rowboat, and by stage and ship, establishing a network of observers along the way. He wrote hundreds of accounts of indigenous birds, discovered many new species, and sketched the behavior and ecology of each species he encountered. Drawing on their expertise in both science and art, Burtt and Davis show how Wilson defied eighteenth-century conventions of biological illustration by striving for realistic depiction of birds in their native habitats. He drew them in poses meant to facilitate identification, making his work the model for modern field guides and an inspiration for Audubon, Spencer Fullerton Baird, and other naturalists who followed. On the bicentennial of his death, this beautifully illustrated volume is a fitting tribute to Alexander Wilson and his unique contributions to ornithology, ecology, and the study of animal behavior.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
In E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2013
E-BOOK PACKAGE CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS SC., BIOL., GEOSC. 2013
E-BOOK PAKET CHEMIE, MATERIALWISS., BIOLOGIE, GEOWISS. 2013
HUP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 (Canada)
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
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Frontmatter
Contents
Preface
Chapter One. Themes in Wilson's Life and Writings
Chapter Two. A Varied Life
Chapter Three. Illustrating American Ornitholog y
Chapter Four. Pioneer Ornithologist
Chapter Five. Wilson's Legacy
Appendix A. On the Shoulders of Giants: Wilson's Predecessors
Appendix B. Wilson's Contemporaries and Correspondents
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index

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