Oology and Ralph's talking eggs : bird conservation comes out of its shell / Carrol L. Henderson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Henderson, Carrol L.

Series:

Mildred Wyatt-Wold series in ornithology.

Mildred Wyatt-Wold series in ornithology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Handsaker, Ralph, 1886-1969--Natural history collections.

Handsaker, Ralph.

Peabody Museum of Natural History--Natural history collections.

Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Birds--Eggs--Collectors and collecting.

Birds.

Birds--Eggs--Catalogs and collections.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (194 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Before modern binoculars and cameras made it possible to observe birds closely in the wild, many people collected eggs as a way of learning about birds. Serious collectors called their avocation "oology" and kept meticulous records for each set of eggs: the bird's name, the species reference number, the quantity of eggs in the clutch, the date and location where the eggs were collected, and the collector's name. These documented egg collections, which typically date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, now provide an important baseline from which to measure changes in the numbers, distribution, and nesting patterns of many species of birds. In Oology and Ralph's Talking Eggs, Carrol L. Henderson uses the vast egg collection of Ralph Handsaker, an Iowa farmer, as the starting point for a fascinating account of oology and its role in the origins of modern birdwatching, scientific ornithology, and bird conservation in North America. Henderson describes Handsaker's and other oologists' collecting activities, which included not only gathering bird eggs in the wild but also trading and purchasing eggs from collectors around the world. Henderson then spotlights sixty of the nearly five hundred bird species represented in the Handsaker collection, using them to tell the story of how birds such as the Snowy Egret, Greater Prairie Chicken, Atlantic Puffin, and Wood Duck have fared over the past hundred years or so since their eggs were gathered. Photos of the eggs and historical drawings and photos of the birds illustrate each species account. Henderson also links these bird histories to major milestones in bird conservation and bird protection laws in North America from 1875 to the present.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. The House of the Talking Eggs

2. The Heyday of Oology: 1880–1918

3. In the Beginning

4. Early Exits from the Land: These Birds Were among the First to Go

5. Wild Bird Eggs

6. The Handsaker Egg Collection: Ralph’s Talking Eggs

7. One Hundred Years Later

8. Scientific Value of Eggs and Egg Collections

Epilogue

Species Identification for Eggs in Photos

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-165) and index.

ISBN:

0-292-79489-4

OCLC:

646761287