Edward Blyth was one of the most highly regarded
ornithologists of his generation and species named in his honour include
Blyth’s Kingfisher, Blyth’s Hawk Eagle, and Blyth’s Tragopan as well as Blyth’s
Reed Warbler and Blyth’s Pipit.
Blyth attended school in London and left at the age of fifteen having
shown a disposition to explore the local wildlife during his school years. It had been hoped that he would attend
university and eventually move into the church. His passion for natural history continued.
On coming of age and gaining an inheritance, Blyth bought a Druggists business, but continued his
interests in natural history and supplemented his incoming by writing articles
for publications and papers for scientific journals. His subjects ranged from Habits of the Bearded Tit, The Predaceous Habits of the Shrike, to Observations on the Cuckoo and The Occurrence of the Carrion Crow in
Ireland. Another project of Blyth’s was to add notations to an 1836 edition of
Gilbert White’s Selbourne.
Blyth’s druggist business
inevitably failed and for a time he acted as Curator for the Ornithological
Society of London. Due to poor health he
was advised to seek a warmer climate abroad and when he was offered the position
of Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal he accepted this and
arrived in Calcutta
in September 1841. He devoted the next
twenty years to the natural history of British India,
improving the museum and updating the catalogues. His poor health restricted his fieldwork
although this did include one visit to Burma. He received specimens from the likes of Allan
Octavian Hume and Robert Swinhoe who sent skins from Formosa
and China.
Blyth’s Reed Warbler was first described by Blyth as Acrocephalus dumetorum and Henry
Dresser added the current vernacular name in 1876. Blyth was also the first to describe Blyth’s Pipit, but the scientific name he gave it is no
longer accepted.
When he returned to England papers by him continued to
appear in the Annuls and Magazine of Natural History, The Zoologist
and The Ibis and other works included
the Natural History of Cranes. In 1860 he became one of the original
Honorary Members of the B.O.U.
During his time in India Blyth corresponded with Charles Darwin. Although not well acknowledged, Blyth may
have played at least some part in influencing many of Darwin’s
ideas and it could well have been Blyth who
warned Darwin of Wallace’s similar ideas on evolution.
Mr. Ash... sorry Mr.Blyth was quite an interesting person by the sounds of it, very underrated compared to some people who probably did less work but became more well known!
ReplyDeleteSam
It would be interesting to learn more about Edward Blyth's influence on Darwin, as his (Darwins) observation regarding the bills of Finches played a central part of his theory!
ReplyDeleteChecked the book and there is no Mr Ashington.:-)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to read about many of these people who have birds named after them. There's many links between them and it takes you into areas of history that I know I would have missed otherwise. You'll have to have a loan of the book sometime Sam. It's a difficult book to get a hold of these days. Brian.
Many people played a role in molding Darwin's ideas Mark and to some extent I suppose Darwin took most of the credit. Still, Darwin is one of the most interesting people I have ever read about. There's a two volume biography of Darwin by Janet Brown which is an excellent read.
ReplyDeleteCheers Brian. Yeah the Darwin biography sounds good. I may put it on the old Christmas box list, lol.
ReplyDeleteBut yes I certainly feel that Wallace himself didn't get the credit he deserved and I know Dawkins speaks highly of him.
Perhaps it was the influence of Darwin's grandfather (Erasmus)- as in being a scientist runs in the family, that made people give him most of the credit?
http://animalsbirds.com/blyths-tragopan-beautiful-bird-images-photos-wallpaper/
ReplyDelete