Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE FRSE FZS FLS (10 September 1876 – 27 March 1949) was an Australian -born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England .
13-401: The stone-curlews , also known as dikkops or thick-knees , consist of 10 species within the family Burhinidae , and are found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world, with two or more species occurring in some areas of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Despite the group being classified as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semiarid habitats. The family Burhinidae
26-496: A hostile response from Archibald James Campbell , a leading Australian figure in birds at the time. He later began splitting genera. Dominic Serventy foretold that although a great many of these subspecies ceased to be recognised, future research would have to resort to the use of some of them if and when evidence supported their distinct status. He was Chairman of the British Ornithologists' Club from 1935 to 1938. He
39-504: A popular naturalist ) of The Handbook of Australian Sea-birds (1971). Serventy is commemorated by the RAOU's D.L. Serventy Medal which is awarded annually for outstanding published work on birds in the Australasian region. Dominic Serventy is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, Ctenotus serventyi . Dominic and Vincent Serventy are commemorated in
52-642: The British Museum 's series of Harold Hall Australian ornithological collecting expeditions during the 1960s, also participating in the third (1965) expedition. Serventy was born at Brown Hill, Western Australia to parents of Croatian origin. He was educated at the University of Western Australia and Cambridge University . Serventy co-authored (with H. M. Whittell ) of Birds of Western Australia , (published in five editions between 1948 and 1976), and (with John Warham and his brother Vincent Serventy ,
65-534: The National Library of Australia in 1939. In 1939, Matthews donated a small collection of Aboriginal ethnographic items from Australia to the British Museum . He married Mrs Marian Wynne, a widow. He died in Winchester on 27 March 1949. Mathews contributed numerous papers to the ornithological literature, especially on avian taxonomy and nomenclature , as well as founding, funding, editing and being
78-610: The Eurasian stone-curlew is a summer migrant in the temperate European part of its range, wintering in Africa. The earliest definitive stone-curlew is Genucrassum bransatensis from the Late Oligocene of France . Wilaru , described from the Late Oligocene to the Early Miocene of Australia, was originally classified as a stone-curlew, but was subsequently argued to be a member of
91-613: The broad similarities with true curlews. Thick-knee refers to the prominent joints in the long yellow or greenish legs and apparently originated with a name coined in 1776 for B. oedicnemus , the Eurasian stone-curlew . Obviously the heel ( ankle ) and the knee are confused here. They are largely nocturnal, particularly when singing their loud, wailing songs, which are reminiscent of true curlews. Their diet consists mainly of insects and other invertebrates. Larger species also take lizards and even small mammals. Most species are sedentary, but
104-681: The extinct anseriform family Presbyornithidae , instead. The living species are: Gregory Mathews He was born in Biamble in New South Wales the son of Robert H. Mathews. He was educated at The King's School, Parramatta . Mathews made his fortune in mining shares and moved to England in 1902. In 1910, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . His proposers were William Eagle Clarke , Ramsay Heatley Traquair , John Alexander Harvie-Brown and William Evans . Mathews
117-480: The principal contributor to the journal The Austral Avian Record . Monographic or book-length works authored or coauthored by him include: Dominic Serventy Dominic Louis Serventy (28 March 1904 – 8 August 1988) was an Australian ornithologist . He was president of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) 1947–1949. He assisted with the initial organisation of
130-554: The sheathbills in the family Chionidae and the Magellanic plover in its own family Pluvianellidae . The stone-curlews are not closely related to the curlews , genus Numenius , that belong to the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. They are medium to large birds with strong black or yellow black bills, large yellow eyes—which give them a reptilian appearance—and cryptic plumage. The names thick-knee and stone-curlew are both in common use. The term stone-curlew owes its origin to
143-493: Was a controversial figure in Australian ornithology. He was responsible for bringing trinomial nomenclature into local taxonomy, however he was regarded as an extreme splitter. He recognised large numbers of subspecies on scant evidence and few notes. The extinct Lord Howe Pigeon was described by Mathews in 1915, using a painting as a guide. At the time, he named it Raperia godmanae for Alice Mary Godman . His approach drew
SECTION 10
#1733093802746156-457: Was introduced in 1912 for the stone-curlews by Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews . The family contains three genera: Hesperoburhinus , Burhinus and Esacus . The name Burhinus combines the Ancient Greek bous meaning "ox" and rhis , rhinos meaning "nose" (or "bill"). Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the family Burhinidae is sister to a clade containing
169-464: Was made CBE in 1939 for his services to ornithology. Mathews described M. s. musgravei , currently recognised as a subspecies of the splendid fairy-wren , in 1922, as a new species of bird. In 1939, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union and served as its president from 1946–1947. Mathews built up a collection of 30,000 bird skins and a library of 5,000 books on ornithology. He donated his ornithological library to
#745254