Editing Ornithology (section)

===Early knowledge and study===
Humans have had an observational relationship with birds since [[prehistory]], with some stone-age drawings being amongst the oldest indications of an interest in birds.<ref name="Gurney, JH 1921">{{Cite journal |author=Gurney, JH |year=1921|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924005489558 |title=Early annals of ornithology |journal=Nature|volume=108|issue=2713|pages=268|bibcode=1921Natur.108..268.|doi=10.1038/108268a0|hdl=2027/coo.31924090299532|s2cid=4033666|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Bird books and bird art|author=Anker, Jean|publisher=Springer-Science|year=1979|pages=1–5}}</ref> Birds were perhaps important as food sources, and bones of as many as 80 species have been found in excavations of early [[Stone Age]] settlements.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Nadel, K. D., Ehud Weiss, Orit Simchoni, Alexander Tsatskin, Avinoam Danin, and Mordechai |year=2004 |title=Stone Agehut in Israel yields world's oldest evidence of bedding|journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=101 |issue=17 |pages=6821–6826 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0308557101v1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0308557101v1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |doi=10.1073/pnas.0308557101|pmid=15090648 |pmc=404215|bibcode = 2004PNAS..101.6821N |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Newton, Alfred |title=Ornithology. Reprinted from Encyclopædia Britannica (9th Ed.) |year=1884|url=https://archive.org/details/ornithology00newt|publisher=[S.l. : s.n. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbird00newt |title=A Dictionary of Birds |publisher=Adam & Charles Black, London |year=1893–1896 |author=Newton, Alfred}}</ref> [[Water bird]] and [[seabird]] remains have also been found in [[shell mound]]s on the island of [[Oronsay, Colonsay|Oronsay]] off the coast of [[Scotland]].<ref name="Gurney, JH 1921" />
[[File:Facsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and Itet MET DT226227.jpg|left|thumb|483x483px|Geese from a wall panel from the tomb of [[Nefermaat]], Egypt {{Circa|2575}}–2551 B.C.]]
Cultures around the world have rich vocabularies related to birds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birdinghawaii.co.uk/Hawaiianbirdnames2.htm|work=birdinghawaii.co.uk/|title=Hawaiian bird names|access-date=11 June 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604150628/http://www.birdinghawaii.co.uk/Hawaiianbirdnames2.htm|archive-date=4 June 2009}}</ref> Traditional bird names are often based on detailed knowledge of the behaviour, with many names being [[onomatopoeic]], and still in use.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Gill, Frank |author2=Wright, M. |name-list-style=amp |year=2006 |title=Birds of the world: Recommended English Names |publisher=Princeton University Press |url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/principles.html |access-date=2007-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020045752/http://worldbirdnames.org/principles.html |archive-date=2008-10-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Traditional knowledge may also involve the use of birds in folk medicine<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Mahawar, M. M.  |author2=D. P. Jaroli  |name-list-style=amp |year=2007 |title=Traditional knowledge on zootherapeutic uses by the Saharia tribe of Rajasthan, India |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine |volume=3 |page=25|doi=10.1186/1746-4269-3-25 |pmid=17547781 |pmc=1892771 |issue=1 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and knowledge of these practices are passed on through oral traditions (see [[ethnoornithology]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cvco.org/science/audubon/Sep2004article.html |author=Shapiro, M. |title=Native bird names |publisher=Richmond Audubon Society |access-date=2007-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816032023/http://www.cvco.org/science/audubon/Sep2004article.html |archive-date=2007-08-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Hohn, E.O. |year=1973|title=Mammal and bird names in the Indian languages of the Lake Athabasca area |journal=Arctic |volume=26 |issue=2|pages=163–171 |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic26-2-163.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic26-2-163.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |doi=10.14430/arctic2912}}</ref> Hunting of wild birds as well as their domestication would have required considerable knowledge of their habits. [[Poultry]] farming and [[falconry]] were practised from early times in many parts of the world. Artificial incubation of poultry was practised in China around 246 BC and around at least 400 BC in Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Funk, E. M.  |author2=Irwin, M. R.  |name-list-style=amp |year=1955 |title=Hatching Operation and Management |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref> The Egyptians also made use of birds in their hieroglyphic scripts, many of which, though stylized, are still identifiable to species.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/dieantiketierwel02kell#page/n19/mode/2up|title=Die Antike Tierwelt|author=Keller, Otto|publisher=Wilhelm Engelmann|year=1913|volume=2|place=Leipzing|pages=1–43|language=de}}</ref>[[File:BelonBirdSkel.jpg|thumb|Belon's comparison of birds and humans in his ''Book of Birds'', 1555]] Early written records provide valuable information on the past distributions of species. For instance, [[Xenophon]] records the abundance of the [[ostrich]] in [[Assyria]] (Anabasis, i. 5); this subspecies from Asia Minor is extinct and all extant ostrich races are today restricted to [[Africa]]. Other old writings such as the [[Vedas]] (1500–800 BC) demonstrate the careful observation of avian life histories and include the earliest reference to the habit of [[brood parasite|brood parasitism]] by the [[Asian koel]] (''Eudynamys scolopaceus'').<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ali, S. |year=1979 |title=Bird study in India: its history and its importance |jstor=23001825|journal=India International Centre Quarterly|volume=6|issue=2 |pages=127–139}}</ref> Like writing, the early art of China, Japan, Persia, and India also demonstrate knowledge, with examples of scientifically accurate bird illustrations.<ref>Lack, David (1965) Enjoying Ornithology. Taylor & Francis. pp. 175–176.</ref>

[[Aristotle]] in 350 BC in his ''[[History of animals]]''<ref>{{cite book |author=Aristotle |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/history_anim.6.vi.html |title=Historia Animalium|trans-title=The History of Animals|translator=D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson}}</ref> noted the habit of [[bird migration]], moulting, egg laying, and lifespans, as well as compiling a list of 170 different bird species. However, he also introduced and propagated several myths, such as the idea that [[swallow]]s [[hibernated]] in winter, although he noted that [[common crane|cranes]] migrated from the steppes of [[Scythia]] to the marshes at the headwaters of the [[Nile]]. The idea of swallow hibernation became so well established that even as late as in 1878, [[Elliott Coues]] could list as many as 182 contemporary publications dealing with the hibernation of swallows and little published evidence to contradict the theory.<ref>{{cite report |author-last1=Lincoln |author-first1= Frederick C. |author-last2= Peterson |author-first2= Steven R. |author-last3=Zimmerman |author-first3= John L.  |year=1998 |title=Migration of birds |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. Circular 16. Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. |url=http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/migratio/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518031657/http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/migratio/index.htm |archive-date=2007-05-18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Allen, JA |year=1909 |title=Biographical memoir of Elliott Coues |journal=National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs |volume=6 |pages=395–446|url=http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/ecoues.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/ecoues.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> Similar misconceptions existed regarding the breeding of [[barnacle geese]]. Their nests had not been seen, and they were believed to grow by transformations of [[goose barnacles]], an idea that became prevalent from around the 11th century and noted by Bishop Giraldus Cambrensis ([[Gerald of Wales]]) in ''[[Topographia Hiberniae]]'' (1187).<ref>{{cite journal |author=Payne, S. |year=1929 |title=The Myth of the Barnacle Goose |journal=Int. J. Psycho-Anal. |volume=10 |pages=218–227}}</ref> Around 77 AD, [[Pliny the Elder]] described birds, among other creatures, in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Historia Naturalis]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gudger|first=E. W.|date=1924|title=Pliny's Historia naturalis. The Most Popular Natural History Ever Published|journal=Isis|language=en|volume=6|issue=3|pages=269–281|doi=10.1086/358236|s2cid=144264511|issn=0021-1753}}</ref>

The earliest record of falconry comes from the reign of Sargon II (722–705 BC) in [[Assyria]]. Falconry is thought to have made its entry to Europe only after AD 400, brought in from the east after invasions by the [[Huns]] and [[Alans]]. Starting from the eighth century, numerous Arabic works on the subject and general ornithology were written, as well as translations of the works of ancient writers from Greek and [[Syriac language|Syriac]]. In the 12th and 13th centuries,  crusades and conquest had subjugated Islamic territories in southern Italy, central Spain, and the Levant under European rule, and for the first time translations into Latin of the great works of Arabic and Greek scholars were made with the help of Jewish and Muslim scholars, especially in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], which had fallen into Christian hands in 1085 and whose libraries had escaped destruction. [[Michael Scot]]us from Scotland made a Latin translation of Aristotle's work on animals from Arabic here around 1215, which was disseminated widely and was the first time in a millennium that this foundational text on zoology became available to Europeans. Falconry was popular in the [[Normans|Norman]] court in Sicily, and a number of works on the subject were written in [[Palermo]]. [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen]] (1194–1250) learned about an falconry during his youth in Sicily and later built up a [[menagerie]] and sponsored translations of Arabic texts, among which the popular Arabic work known as the ''[[Moamyn|Liber Moaminus]]'' by an unknown author which was translated into Latin by [[Theodore of Antioch (philosopher)|Theodore of Antioch]] from Syria in 1240–1241 as the ''De Scientia Venandi per Aves'', and also Michael Scotus (who had removed to Palermo) translated [[Avicenna|Ibn Sīnā]]'s ''[[Kitāb al-Hayawān (Aristotle)|Kitāb al-Ḥayawān]]'' of 1027 for the Emperor, a commentary and scientific update of Aristotle's work which was part of Ibn Sīnā's massive ''[[The Book of Healing|Kitāb al-Šifāʾ]]''. Frederick II eventually wrote his own treatise on falconry, the ''[[De arte venandi cum avibus]]'', in which he related his ornithological observations and the results of the hunts and experiments his court enjoyed performing.<ref name="egerton">{{cite journal |author=Egerton, F. |year=2003 |title=A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 8: Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen: Amateur Avian Ecologist and Behaviorist |journal=Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=40–44|url=http://esapubs.org/bulletin/current/history_list/history_part8.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://esapubs.org/bulletin/current/history_list/history_part8.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|doi=10.1890/0012-9623(2003)84[40:AHOTES]2.0.CO;2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=van Oppenraay |first=Aafke M.I. |date=2017 |title=Avicenna's ''Liber de animalibus'' ('''Abbreviatio Avicennae''') - Preliminaries and State of Affairs |url=https://pure.knaw.nl/ws/files/6003490/Avicenna_s_Liber_de_animalibus_Abbreviatio_Avicennae_._VanOppenraay_2017.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://pure.knaw.nl/ws/files/6003490/Avicenna_s_Liber_de_animalibus_Abbreviatio_Avicennae_._VanOppenraay_2017.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=Documenti e Studi Sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale |volume=28 |pages=401–416 |access-date=4 May 2018}}</ref>

Several early German and French scholars compiled old works and conducted new research on birds. These included [[Guillaume Rondelet]], who described his observations in the Mediterranean, and [[Pierre Belon]], who described the fish and birds that he had seen in France and the Levant. Belon's ''Book of Birds'' (1555) is a folio volume with descriptions of some 200 species. His comparison of the skeleton of humans and birds is considered as a landmark in [[comparative anatomy]].<ref name="miall">{{cite book |author=Miall, L. C. |year=1911 |title=History of Biology |publisher=Watts and Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbiology00mialrich}}</ref> [[Volcher Coiter]] (1534–1576), a Dutch anatomist, made detailed studies of the internal structures of birds and produced a classification of birds, ''De Differentiis Avium'' (around 1572), that was based on structure and habits.<ref name="egallen">{{cite journal |author=Allen, Elsa G. |author-link=Elsa Guerdrum Allen |year=1951 |title=The History of American Ornithology before Audubon |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |series=New Series |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=387–591 |doi=10.2307/1005629|jstor=1005629|hdl=2027/uc1.31822011760568 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[Konrad Gesner]] wrote the ''Vogelbuch'' and ''Icones avium omnium'' around 1557. Like Gesner, [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]], an encyclopedic naturalist, began a 14-volume natural history with three volumes on birds, entitled ''ornithologiae hoc est de avibus historiae libri XII'', which was published from 1599 to 1603. Aldrovandi showed great interest in plants and animals, and his work included 3000 drawings of fruits, flowers, plants, and animals, published in 363 volumes. His ''Ornithology'' alone covers 2000 pages and included such aspects as the [[chicken]] and poultry techniques. He used a number of traits including behaviour, particularly bathing and dusting, to classify bird groups.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Beddall|first=Barbara G.| year=1957| title=Historical notes on avian classification| journal=Systematic Zoology| volume=6| issue=3| pages=129–136| doi=10.2307/2411751|jstor=2411751}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lind, L. R.|year=1963|title=Aldrovandi on Chickens: The Ornithology of Ulisse Aldrovandi, vol. 2, Bk xiv, translated and edited by L. R. Lind|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Aldrovandi, Ulisse |year=1599 |title=Ornithologiae |url=https://archive.org/details/ARes04102}}</ref>

[[File:AldrovandiOrnithology.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cover of [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]]'s ''Ornithology'', 1599]]

[[File:ValliDeTodi1601.jpg|thumb|[[Antonio Valli da Todi]], who wrote on [[aviculture]] in 1601, knew the connections between territory and song<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Archives of Natural History |volume=35 |pages=281–305 |doi=10.3366/E0260954108000399 |title=Bird-keeping and the development of ornithological science |year=2008 |author1=Birkhead TR  |author2=S van Balen  |name-list-style=amp |issue=2}}</ref>]]
[[William Turner (ornithologist)|William Turner]]'s ''Historia Avium'' (''History of Birds''), published at [[Cologne]] in 1544, was an early ornithological work from England. He noted the commonness of [[red kite|kite]]s in English cities where they snatched food out of the hands of children. He included folk beliefs such as those of anglers. Anglers believed that the [[osprey]] emptied their fishponds and would kill them, mixing the flesh of the osprey into their fish bait. Turner's work reflected the violent times in which he lived, and stands in contrast to later works such as [[Gilbert White]]'s 1789 ''[[The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne]]'' that were written in a tranquil era.<ref name="miall"/><ref name="gilbertwhite">{{cite book |last=White |first=Gilbert |title=The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne |year= 1887 |orig-year=1789 |location=London |publisher=Cassell & Company| oclc=3423785 |pages=38–39 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20933/20933-h/20933-h.htm}}</ref>

In the 17th century, [[Francis Willughby]] (1635–1672) and [[John Ray]] (1627–1705) created the first major system of bird classification that was based on function and morphology rather than on form or behaviour. Willughby's ''Ornithologiae libri tres'' (1676) completed by John Ray is sometimes considered to mark the beginning of scientific ornithology. Ray also worked on ''Ornithologia'', which was published posthumously in 1713 as ''Synopsis methodica avium et piscium''.<ref name="white">{{cite web |author=White, Jeanne A. |year=1999 |title=Ornithology Collections in the Libraries at Cornell University: A Descriptive Guide |url=http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ornithology/guide/hillguide.htm |access-date=2007-12-01}}</ref> The earliest list of British birds, ''Pinax Rerum Naturalium Britannicarum'', was written by [[Christopher Merrett]] in 1667, but authors such as John Ray considered it of little value.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Koinm, Albert J. |year=2000 |title=Christopher Merrett's Use of Experiment |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=23–32 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2000.0093|s2cid=144805851 |doi-access= }}</ref> Ray did, however, value the expertise of the naturalist [[Sir Thomas Browne]] (1605–82), who not only answered his queries on ornithological identification and nomenclature, but also those of Willoughby and Merrett in letter correspondence. Browne himself in his lifetime kept an eagle, owl, cormorant, bittern, and ostrich, penned a tract on falconry, and introduced the words "incubation" and "oviparous" into the English language.<ref>{{cite book|pages=i–xxv|title=Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk, more especially on the birds and fishes|author=[[Thomas Browne|Browne, Thomas]] (with notes by [[Thomas Southwell (naturalist)|Thomas Southwell]])|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924024779187#page/n5/mode/2up|publisher=Jarrold & Sons|place=London|year=1902}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Mullens, W.H. |title=Some early British Ornithologists and their works. VII. John Ray (1627-1705) and Francis Willughby (1635-1672)|pages=290–300 |volume=2|issue=9|url=http://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V02/V02_N09/V02_N09_P290_300_A047.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V02/V02_N09/V02_N09_P290_300_A047.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=British Birds|year=1909}}</ref> 
[[File:An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1768.jpg|thumb|''[[An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump]]'', [[Joseph Wright of Derby]], 1768]]
Towards the late 18th century, [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]] (1723–1806) and [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Comte de Buffon]] (1707–1788) began new works on birds. Brisson produced a six-volume work ''Ornithologie'' in 1760 and Buffon's included nine volumes (volumes 16–24) on birds ''Histoire naturelle des oiseaux'' (1770–1785) in his work on science '' [[Histoire Naturelle |Histoire naturelle générale et particulière]]'' (1749–1804). Jacob Temminck sponsored [[François Le Vaillant]] [1753–1824] to collect bird specimens in Southern Africa and Le Vaillant's six-volume ''Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique'' (1796–1808) included many non-African birds. His other bird books produced in collaboration with the artist Barraband are considered among the most valuable illustrated guides ever produced. [[Louis Pierre Vieillot]] (1748–1831) spent 10 years studying North American birds and wrote the ''Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amerique septentrionale'' (1807–1808?). Vieillot pioneered in the use of life histories and habits in classification.<ref>{{cite web |author=White, Jeanne A. |title=Hill Collection — 18th c. French authors & artists |url=http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ornithology/guide/hillguide10.htm|access-date=2007-12-01|date=1999-06-10 }}</ref> [[Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)|Alexander Wilson]] composed a nine-volume work, ''American Ornithology'', published 1808–1814, which is the first such record of North American birds, significantly antedating Audubon. In the early 19th century, [[Lewis and Clark]] studied and identified many birds in the western United States. [[John James Audubon]], born in 1785, observed and painted birds in France and later in the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] valleys. From 1827 to 1838, Audubon published ''[[Birds of America (book)|The Birds of America]]'', which was engraved by [[Havell family|Robert Havell Sr.]] and his son Robert Havell Jr. Containing 435 engravings, it is often regarded as the greatest ornithological work in history.