On Toucans And Hornbills

Readings In Early Modern Ornithology From Belon To Buffon

Bibliographic Data

ID20042682
AuthorsPaul J Smith (0000-0002-1012-1530, corresponding author)
Year2007
Pages75-119
Publication date2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueEarly Modern Zoology (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/ej.9789004131880.i-657.24
OpenAlexW177450167
ISBN9789004131880
LanguageEN
Citations received4

This chapter presents a chronological discussion of the principal texts on two bird families, Toucans and Hornbills, beginning with Pierre Belon du Mans in the sixteenth-century - the age of their discovery - and ending with Georges-Louis Leclerc, Count of Buffon, who wrote the most influential ornithology of the Enlightenment. It enables us to outline the history of the scientific knowledge of both bird families. But as a case study it also hopes to show more: because the newly discovered birds were incorporated in the prevailing ornithological discourse and taxonomy, thus making continuous revisions necessary, this teaches us a lot about early modern zoology. The chapter shows that the rare, fragmentary and transitory material and the scattered oral, hand-written and printed information about the birds underline the need for every zoologist to maintain a wide and well-functioning social and scientific network and to have access to collections of non-professionals. Keywords: Count of Buffon; early modern ornithology; early modern zoologists; Georges-Louis Leclerc; hornbills; Pierre Belon du Mans; toucans

Biology · Genealogy · Geography · Ornithology · Southern Hemisphere · Zoology · Ecology · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical and Literary Studies · History · Plant and animal studies