Nineteenth–Century OrnithologyÉdition 1

Nineteenth century ornithology was heavily dominated by a few features, and these form the organising principle for this collection. For most of the century, British ornithology was heavily dominated by a set of ‘amateur’/independent characters, in the absence of institutionalised or professionalised natural history. Ornithology reflected many aspects of contemporary society (in terms of social class and gender) and also contributed to the construction of these aspects. Ornithology was particularly dominated by middle- and upper-class men. The close circle of ornithologists based in London were associated with the aristocracy and with the upper middle classes, and ornithology was part of their social milieu. A number of them shared a house close to the Zoological Society of London, so they could spend the evening there after the ‘Zoo Soc’ meetings. Ornithology was also heavily dominated by a focus on the description of ‘new’ species and establishing their distribution, rather than a focus on creating or testing hypotheses. The nineteenth century was a time when large numbers of ‘new’ species were described or ‘discovered’ beyond Great Britain, with many of these discoveries made in the contexts of formal and informal empire. The production of scientific knowledge was complex, involving travel, preparation of specimens, transportation of specimens, access to elitist natural history societies, access to capital for publishing, and publishing itself. The experiences of collectors and ornithologists contributed to the development of their ‘careers’, often combining their early experiences with the development of specialities, speaking to Victorian ideals of ‘self help’. The first volume looks at Ornithology ‘at home’.