Melvin Alvah Traylor Junior

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Melvin Alvah Traylor junior (born December 16, 1915 - February 11, 2008 in Evanston , Illinois ) was an American ornithologist .

biography

Melvin Alvah Traylor junior was the son of Chicago banker Melvin Alvah Traylor and his wife Dorothy Y. Traylor. During the Second World War he was stationed as a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on Guadalcanal , where he received the Silver Star in 1942 for his services . After the war, Traylor continued his ornithological work for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which he had started in 1937. He went on expeditions to Africa (in collaboration with Austin Loomer Rand ), South America and Asia. In 1960 he came to Nepal with the members of the World Book Encyclopedia Scientific Expedition . However, Traylor worked independently of the expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary , which aimed to investigate the Yeti phenomenon. In 1956 he became assistant bird curator at the Field Museum. He held the post until his retirement in the 1980s. He then worked as a curator emeritus for the Field Museum.

Melvin Alvah Traylor junior was, along with Raymond Andrew Paynter, Jr. (1925–2003), Ernst Mayr and George William Cottrell (1903–1995), one of the authors of the Checklist of Birds of the World book series , a standard work published between 1931 and 1987 in 16 volumes was published. Traylor first described species such as the Tana cistus warbler ( Cisticola restrictus ), the Colombian screech owl ( Megascops columbianus ) or the genus of small tyrants ( Zimmerius ). In addition, he wrote authoritative revisions on the system of tyrants . In 1997 the orange-eyed broad-billed tyrant ( Tolmomyias traylori ) was named after him. In 2001, Traylor and Raymond Andrew Paynter, Jr. received the Elliott Coues Medal from the American Ornithologists' Union for Lifetime Achievement .

Works (selection)

  • 1947: Subspecies of Aratinga acuticaudata. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 31, part 21; Pub. No.608)
  • 1948: New Birds from Peru and Ecuador. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 31, part 24; Pub. No.619)
  • 1949: Notes on Some Veracruz Birds. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 31, part 32; Pub. No.635)
  • 1951: Notes on Some Peruvian Birds. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 31, part 51; Pub. No.676)
  • 1952: Notes on Birds from the Marcapata Valley, Cuzco, Peru. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 34, part 3; Pub. No.691)
  • 1958: Birds of Northeastern Peru. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 35, part 5; Pub. No.844)
  • 1959: Three New Birds from West Africa. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 39, part 25; Pub. No.865) (with AL Rand)
  • 1961: Notes on Nepal Birds. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 35, part 8; Pub. No.917)
  • 1962: New Birds from Barotseland. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 44, part 12; Pub. No.955)
  • 1964: Further Notes on Nepal Birds: [Chicago] Chicago Natural History Museum
  • 1967: A Collection of Birds from Szechwan, 1967, Chicago Natural History Museum, Fieldiana: Zoology, Volume 53, Number 1: pages 1-67 with 1 map figure.
  • 1967: Collection of Birds from the Ivory Coast. : (Fieldiana. Zoology: Volume 51, part 7; Pub. No.1033)
  • 1968: Distributional Notes on Nepal Birds, 1968, Chicago Natural History Museum, Fieldiana: Zoology, Volume 53, Number 3: pages 147-203.
  • 1977: A Classification of the Tyrant Flycatchers (Tyrannidae), 1977, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Volume 148, Number 4: pages 129-184 with 10 figures and 4 tables.
  • 1977: Ornithological Gazeteer of Ecuador (with Raymond A. Paynter)
  • 1982: Notes on Tyrant Flycatchers (Aves: Tyrannidae). : (Fieldiana. New Series Zoology: Volume 13; Pub. No.1338)
  • 1988: Geographic Variation and Evolution in South American Cistothorus platensis (Aves: Troglodytidae). : (Fieldiana. New Series Zoology: Volume 48; Pub. No.1392)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Traylor, Melvin Alvah junior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ornithologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1915
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 2008
Place of death Evanston, Illinois