Ten thousand birds : ornithology since Darwin /
This beautifully illustrated book opens in the middle of the nineteenth century when ornithology was a museum-based discipline focused almost exclusively on the anatomy, taxonomy, and classification of dead birds. It describes how in the early 1900s pioneering individuals such as Erwin Stresemann, E...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Princeton :
Princeton University Press,
[2014]
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Table of contents Contributor biographical information Publisher description |
| Summary: | This beautifully illustrated book opens in the middle of the nineteenth century when ornithology was a museum-based discipline focused almost exclusively on the anatomy, taxonomy, and classification of dead birds. It describes how in the early 1900s pioneering individuals such as Erwin Stresemann, Ernst Mayr, and Julian Huxley recognized the importance of studying live birds in the field, and how this shift thrust ornithology into the mainstream of the biological sciences. The book tells the stories of eccentrics like Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a pathological liar who stole specimens from museums and quite likely murdered his wife, and describes the breathtaking insights and discoveries of ambitious and influential figures such as David Lack, Niko Tinbergen, Robert MacArthur, and others who through their studies of birds transformed entire fields of biology. |
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| Physical Description: | xvii, 524 pages : illustrations (some color), color maps ; 26 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 467-496) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780691151977 0691151970 1400848830 9781400848836 |