Osbert Salvin | |
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| Born | 25 February 1835 Finchley, England |
| Died | 1 June 1898 (aged 63) |
| Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
| Occupation | naturalist |
| Known for | Godman-Salvin Medal |
| Spouse | Caroline Octavia Maitland |
Osbert Salvin FRS (25 February 1835 – 1 June 1898) was an English naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist best known for co-authoring Biologia Centrali-Americana (1879–1915) with Frederick DuCane Godman. This was a 52-volume encyclopedia on the natural history of Central America.
Osbert Salvin was born in Finchley, north London, the second son of the architect Anthony Salvin, of Hawksfold, Sussex. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, taking his degree in 1857. [1] Shortly afterwards he accompanied his second cousin by marriage, Henry Baker Tristram, in a natural history exploration of Tunisia and eastern Algeria. Their account of this trip was published in The Ibis in 1859 and 1860. [2]
In the autumn of 1857, he made the first of several visits to Guatemala, returning there with Frederick DuCane Godman in 1861. It was during this journey that the Biologia Centrali-Americana was planned.
In 1871 Salvin became editor of The Ibis. He was appointed to the Strickland Curatorship in the University of Cambridge, and produced his Catalogue of the Strickland Collection . He was one of the original members of the British Ornithologists' Union. He produced the volumes on the Trochilidae and the Procellariidae in the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum. One of his last works was the completion of Lord Lilford's Coloured Figures of British Birds (1897).
Salvin was a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Linnean, Zoological and Entomological Societies, and at the time of his death was Secretary of the British Ornithologists' Union.
The Godman-Salvin Medal, a prestigious award of the British Ornithologists' Union, is named after him and Godman.
In the scientific field of herpetology, he described two new species of Central American reptiles: Bothriechis aurifer and Typhlops tenuis . [3] Also, three species and one subspecies of reptiles have been named in his honor: Anolis salvini , Crotalus scutulatus salvini , Sceloporus salvini , and Staurotypus salvinii . [4]
In 1863, he married Caroline Octavia Maitland in Loughton, Essex. They had three daughters, Sybil Maitland Salvin (born 1867), who married Edmund Leveson Calverley in 1893, Heloise Salvin (born 1875) and Viola Salvin (born 1878). Heloise Salvin married biologist John Edmund Sharrock Moore. [5] Osbert's grandson is Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu, a Theravada Buddhist monk and translator of Pali literature; he was originally also named Osbert after his grandfather.
Frederick DuCane GodmanDCL FRS FLS FGS FRGS FES FZS MRI FRHS was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist. He was one of the twenty founding members of the British Ornithologists' Union. Along with Osbert Salvin, he is remembered for studying the fauna and flora of Central America.
Alfred Percival Maudslay was a British colonial administrator and archaeologist. He pioneered the careful archaeological study of the Maya ruins and the results of his field work were presented in Biologia Centrali-Americana: Archaeology (1889–1902). The massive five volume set continues to serve as an important work of reference for the study of Maya culture. In 1908, he made a complete translation, with annotations, of Bernal Díaz del Castillo's Historia. His translation remains the standard English edition.
George Charles Champion was an English entomologist specialising in the study of beetles.
The Biologia Centrali-Americana is an encyclopedia of the natural history of Mexico and Central America, privately issued in 215 parts from 1879 to 1915 by the editors Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin, of the British Museum in London. It was begun by Alfred Maudslay publishing his first long-form description of the Archaeology at Chichen Itza.
The year 1880 in birding and ornithology.
The year 1884 in birding and ornithology.
Birds described in 1885 include semicollared flycatcher, Palawan hornbill, blue bird-of-paradise, lesser lophorina, brown sicklebill, Comoros cuckooshrike, Cozumel vireo, Indochinese green magpie, three-streaked tchagra, Lawes's parotia, Turquoise-winged parrotlet
Birds described in 1886 include: Arizona woodpecker; blue ground dove; Brazza's martin;common smoky honeyeater; dark hawk-cuckoo;double-banded greytail; blue-breasted blue flycatcher ; snoring rail; point-tailed palmcreeper; and little minivet.
Birds described in 1892 include the Laysan honeycreeper, Abyssinian crimsonwing, Chatham raven, black oriole, Tullberg's woodpecker, spotted nightjar, Hose's broadbill, Bolivian earthcreeper, Chubb's cisticola, greater ground robin, streak-throated hermit, green-breasted bushshrike and the Gough moorhen.
Birds described in 1893 include Attwater's prairie chicken, the Auckland rail, blue-winged racket-tail, black-winged petrel, Laysan albatross, Chatham petrel, Mauritius night heron, Mauritius scops owl, purple-breasted sunbird, violet-throated metaltail, white-bellied tyrannulet, Whyte's barbet and the white-bellied crested flycatcher.
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