Harry Church Oberholser

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Harry Church Oberholser (born June 25, 1870 in Brooklyn New York City , † December 25, 1963 in Cleveland , Ohio ) was an American ornithologist and biologist .

Life

Oberholser's parents were Jakob and Lavera Oberholser. He had both Swiss and French-German-English ancestors. First he attended Columbia University , which he left again at the age of 20 due to health problems. After leaving university, he first worked in his father's shop in Wooster , before starting a job at the state post in 1875. During this period of his life he wrote his first ornithological publication A prelimary list of birds of Wayne County, Ohio . This appeared in the Bulletin Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station in 1896 . His real career began on February 1, 1895 when he took up a position as an ornithological clerk in the Economic Ornithology Department of the United States Department of Agriculture . On June 30, 1914, Oberholser married Mary Forrest Smith. While working for the government he obtained in 1916 at the George Washington University doctoral degree Ph.D. On June 30, 1941, Oberholser was finally retired.

In 46 years of civil service he became a respected specialist in the field of bird identification. He was instrumental in ensuring that bird ringing was adopted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (formerly the Bureau of Biological Survey ). While still in government, he also taught zoology from 1904 to 1910 at the Biltmore Forest School in Asheville , North Carolina, and from 1920 to 1935 at the American University in Washington, DC After his retirement, Oberholser became a curator for six years for ornithology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History . After Oberholser's death, a 12,000-page manuscript was found . Edgar Bryan Kincaid Jr. (1921–1985) a connoisseur of the Texan avifauna was selected to complete the work. The two-volume work The Bird Life of Texas was only published about 11 years after Oberholser's death in 1974. This also explains the fact that there are first descriptions such as that of the blue- throated nymph ( Lampornis clemenciae phasmorus ) or of Icteria virens danotia ( Oberholser , 1974), although Oberholser died long in 1974.

Initial descriptions

The first descriptions of eleven families and subfamilies in the biological system come from Oberholser . There are also 99 genera and sub- genera described by him, as well as 560 species and subspecies.

Genera described by Oberholser (selection)

The taxon Ammospiza Oberholser , 1905 is considered invalid.

Species described by Oberholser

The gray tangan ( Aerodramus amelis ) ( Oberholser , 1906) is not regarded by some authors as a separate species, but as a subspecies of the single- colored salangan ( Aerodramus vanikorensis amelis ) ( Oberholser , 1906). One meets Falco araeus in some literature . This is a wrong spelling of the taxon Falco araea .

Honors and dedications

In 1939, Allan Robert Phillips (1914–1996) honored Oberholser with the scientific name of the bushland snapper tyrant ( Empidonax oberholseri ). In his first description he writes: It is a great honor for me to have this kind of Dr. Dedicated to Oberholser, whose tireless help made it possible for me to write this article. Oberholser himself later described another subspecies of this species called Empidonax oberholseri spodius ( Oberholser , 1974).

For this, the subspecies of were Glanzkopfsalangane ( Collocalia esculenta oberholseri ) ( Stresemann , 1912), the Palmenzwergkauz ( Glaucidium palmarum oberholseri ) ( Moore, RT , 1937), the Krummschnabel Mockingbird ( Toxostoma curvirostre oberholseri ) ( Law , 1928), the Zimtkopf- Grüntaube ( Treron fulvicollis oberholseri ) ( Chasen , 1935) the dollar bird ( Eurystomus orientalis oberholseri ) ( Young , 1936), the Schwarzgenickschnäppers ( Hypothymis azurea oberholseri ) ( Stresemann , 1913), the Braunrückenklarinos ( Myadestes occidentalis oberholseri ) ( Dickey & van Rossem , 1925), the Carolinakleibers ( Sitta carolinensis oberholseri ) ( Brandt, HW , 1938) and the Carolina wren ( Thryothorus ludovicianus oberholseri ) ( Lowery , 1940) named in honor of Oberholser.

The subspecies of the Andesque ear ( Pseudocolaptes boissonneautii oberholseri ) ( Cory , 1919) is now considered a synonym for the nominate form .

The name Oberholsers found its way into the common English name “Oberholser's Fruit Dove” ( Ptilinopus subgularis epius ) ( Oberholser , 1918). There is also the English name “Oberholser's Tyrannulet” ( Phylloscartes pammictus ) ( Oberholser , 1902). This name is not recognized, however, because it is actually the olive- yellow leaf tyrant (Eng: Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulet) ( Phylloscartes ventralis ) ( Temminck , 1824).

Publications (selection)

  • A preliminary list of the birds of Wayne County, Ohio . In: Bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station (=  Technical series ). tape 1 , no. 4 , July 1896, p. 244-353 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • A revision of the wrens of the genus Thryomanes Sclater . In: Proceedings of the United States National Museum . tape 21 , no. 1153 , November 19, 1898, p. 421-450 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Description of a New Amazilia . In: The Auk . tape 15 , no. 1 , 1898, p. 32–36 ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 204 kB ]).
  • Description of a New Geothlypis . In: The Auk . tape 16 , no. 3 , 1899, pp. 256–258 (English, sora.unm.edu [PDF; 113 kB ]).
  • A New Wren from Alaska . In: The Auk . tape 17 , no. 1 , 1900, p. 25–26 (English, sora.unm.edu [PDF; 69 kB ]).
  • Catalog of a collection of hummingbirds from Ecuador and Colombia . In: Proceedings of The United States National Museum . tape 24 , 1902, pp. 309-342 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Description of a new genus and species of Trochilidae . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 18 , 1905, pp. 161–162 (English, biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Birds collected by Dr. WL Abbott in the Kilimanjaro region, East Africa . In: Proceedings of The United States National Museum . tape 28 , no. 1411 , 1905, pp. 823-936 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • A Monograph of the Genus Chordeiles Swainson, Type of a New Family of Goatsuckers . In: Bulletin - United States National Museum. No. 86 , 1914, pp. 1-120 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Critical notes on the subspecies of the spotted owl, Strix occidentalis (Xantus) . In: Proceedings of The United States National Museum . tape 49 , no. 2106 , 1916, pp. 251-257 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • The birds of the Anamba Islands . In: Bulletin - United States National Museum. No. 98 , 1917, pp. 1-75 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • The Great Plains waterfowl breeding grounds and their protection in Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture . No. 723 . Government Printing Office, Washington DC 1917, p. 3-10 ( babel.hathitrust.org ).
  • Description of a New Subspecies of Cyanolaemus Clemenciae . In: The Condor . tape 20 , no. 5 , 1918, pp. 181–182 ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 154 kB ]).
  • The birds of the Tambelan Islands, South China Sea . In: Proceedings of The United States National Museum . tape 55 , no. 2262 , 1919, pp. 129-143 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Notes on the wrens of the genus Nannus Billberg . In: Proceedings of The United States National Museum . tape 55 , no. 2265 , 1919, pp. 223-236 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Description of an Interesting New Junco From Lower California . In: The Condor . tape 21 , no. 3 , 1919, p. 94–112 (English, sora.unm.edu [PDF; 152 kB ]).
  • Descriptions of new birds from Oregon, chiefly from the Warner Valley region . In: Scientific publications of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History . tape 4 , no. 1 , September 19, 1932, p. 1-12 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • The Bird Life of Louisiana . Bulletin No. 28th Department of Conservation, New Orleans June 1938 ( babel.hathitrust.org ).
  • Description of a new Arizona race of the grasshopper sparrow . In: Proceedings of The Biological Society of Washington . tape 55 , 1942, pp. 15-16 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • The bird life of Texas . tape 1 . University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 1974, ISBN 978-0-292-70711-5 ( books.google.de ).
  • When Passenger Pigeons Flew in the Killbuck Valley (1999) ISBN 1-888683-96-1

literature

  • Handbook of Texas: BIBLIOGRAPHY: Austin American-Statesman, September 29, 1974. Who's Who in America, 1948-49
  • John W. Audrich: In memorian: Harry Church Oberholser , The Auk, 85, pp. 25-29, 1968
  • Harry Church Oberholser: Autobiography
  • Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins: Whose Bird ?: Common Bird Names and the People They Commemorate , Yale University Press, 2004, p. 256, ISBN 978-0-300-10359-5

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Auk, Volume 114, Number 3, 1997 In memoriam: Allan R. Phillips, 1914–1996 (English; PDF file; 298 kB) Original article
  2. ↑ The Auk, Volume 56, Number 3, 1939 The type of Empidonax wrightii Baird (English; PDF file; 84 kB) Original article
  3. ↑ The Auk, Volume 72, Number 3 1955 Obituaries (English; PDF file; 249 kB) Original article
  4. ↑ Review The Bird Life of Texas by Walter Bock (PDF file; 1.0 MB)
  5. ^ Online edition of the Handbook of Texas
  6. ↑ Online edition Auk (PDF file; 312 kB)
  7. ↑ Online Autobiography
personal data
SURNAME Oberholser, Harry Church
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ornithologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1963
Place of death Cleveland