Catesby's Birds of Colonial America (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807816612 ISBN 13: 9780807816615

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr, 1985

Synopsis

With this lovely and informative volume, Alan Feduccia preserves the pathbreaking work of Mark Catesby, the English naturalist and illustrator who founded natural history and bird art in America. First published by UNC Press in 1985, the book features all 109 bird illustrations, 20 color plates, and the entire text from Catesby's pioneeringNatural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas. Annotating Catesby's writings from a modern perspective, Feduccia discusses the perception of each species during the Colonial period, comments on its habits, and compares Catesby's observations with those of such other early naturalists as John White, John Lawson, Alexander Wilson, and John James Audubon.

About this title

About the Author

Alan Feduccia is S. K. Heninger Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His books include The Age of Birds, The Origin and Evolution of Birds, and Birds of Colonial Williamsburg.

Reviews

English naturalist Mark Catesby presented Europeans with their first comprehensive view of American flora and fauna. He had traveled extensively in the southern colonies and the Caribbeana five-year period starting in 1712, and a later four years beginning in 1722gathering seeds, drawing wildlife and observing their habits. Though his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands was well known in its time, it was superseded by the works of Alexander Wilson and Audubon. Feduccia, author of The Age of Birds, rescues Catesby from oblivion with a fresh appreciation of his pioneering studies. Here are all the bird illustrations and the entire text of Catesby's book (parts of it borrowed from John Lawson's New Voyage to Carolina). Catesby used native plants as a background for his birds; his descriptions, made before the era of systematic nomenclature, are augmented by Feduccia and compared to those of other early naturalists. This glimpse of colonial ornithology will attract historians as well as birders. November 15
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr
• Publication date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807816612
• ISBN 13: 9780807816615
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Editor: Feduccia Alan