Thomas C. Jerdon

.

India

Jerdon started collecting birds shortly after his arrival in India on 21 February 1836.Dickinson, E.C. & S.M.S. Gregory. Systematic notes on Asian birds. 55. A re-examination of the date of publication of Jerdon's Second Supplement to the Catalogue of the Birds of southern India. Zool. Med. Leiden 80-5 (7) 21.xii.2006: 169-178.— ISSN 0024-0672. [http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/41778 PDF] ] He was in the 2nd Light Cavalry for the next four years posted in the Deccan and Eastern Ghats. After his marriage to Flora Macleod, niece of general L. W. Watson, in July 1841, he was posted to the Nilgiri Hills. Flora had an interest in botanical art and took an interest in orchids. Around 1845 the Jerdon's lived in their Ooty home "Woodside", and their children were baptised at the local St. Stephens church. [Price, F. (1908) Ootacamund: A history. 2002 reprint. Rupa and Co.] [Noltie, H. J. 2007. Robert Wight and the Botanical drawings of Rungiah and Govindoo. Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.] This was followed by a posting to Nellore where he interacted with the tribes and obtained information on the natural history. He was frequently at Fort St. George in 1844-47. He was appointed Civil Surgeon at Tellicherry in 1847 and remained there until 1851.

He sent his collections of birds collected during his early travels to William Jardine for identification, but by the time they arrived at Jardine's house in Scotland they had become infested by moths. Jerdon trusted to his own identifications from then on, publishing "A Catalogue of the Birds of the Indian Peninsula" for the "Madras Journal of Literature and Science" (1839-40). This included 420 species, almost doubling the list produced earlier by Colonel W. H. Sykes.Kinnear, N.B., 1952. The history of Indian mammalogy and ornithology. Part II. Birds.— J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 51 (1):104-110.]

In 1852 he was promoted to Surgeon and assigned to the 4th Light Cavalry posted in the Central Provinces. He served in the Narmada and Saugor region during the 1857 mutiny. After peace was established he went on leave to Darjeeling. On his way, he met Lord Canning, the Viceroy and proposed his scheme for a series of manuals on the vertebrates of India. He was later transferred to the Government of India, and was placed on special duty for the purpose of writing his manuals on the vertebrates of India. In 1868 the manuals on Mammals and birds were published and the manuscript of the reptiles sent to press and on the 28th February he retired and went on tour to the Khasi Hills in Assam. In June 1868 he went to England and died at Norwood in 1872. After his death the proofs of the Reptiles volume went home. In 1874 several volumes with his original drawings of reptiles were auctioned by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. [Smith, M. A. (1931) Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Amphibia. Volume 1]

The want of brief, but comprehensive Manual of the Natural History of India has been long felt by all interested in such inquiries. At the present, it is necessary to search through voluminous transactions of learned Societies, and scientific Journals, to obtain any general acquaintance with what has been already ascertained regarding the Fauna of India, and, excepting to a few more favorably placed, even these are inaccessible. The issue of a Manual, which should comprise all available information in sufficient detail for the discrimination and identification of such objects of Natural History as might be met with, without being rendered cumbrous by minutiae of synonymy or of history, has therefore long been considered a desideratum. To meet this want it is proposed to publish a series of such Manuals for all the Vertebrated Animals of India, containing characters of all the classes, orders, families, and genera, and descriptions of all the species of all Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes, found in India. Prospectus in his Birds of India regarding the proposed Fauna of British India.

Jerdon's most important publication was "The Birds of India" (1862-64), which included over 1008 species in two volumes with the second volume in two parts. This work was dedicated to Lord Canning and Lord Elgin who supported the venture.

This work was not without its critics. A reviewer pointed out that Jerdon seemed unaware of the significance of geographic distributions in evolutionary relatedness. Jerdon's opinion on Darwin's theory was that it "perhaps, lays too much stress on external and fortuitous circumstances as producing varieties, and not enough on the inherent power of change." The reviewer also points out problems in his usage of George Gray's arrangement of the bird classes and states: "In thus following the phantasies of Kaup, and the mad vagaries of Bonaparte (in his latest writings), we cannot believe that Dr. Jerdon has acted well for his own reputation, nor wisely as regards the class of readers for whom his volumes are specially intended." [cite journal|author=anonymous|title=Reviews: The Birds of India|journal=Quarterly Journal of Science|volume=1|year=1864|url=http://books.google.co.in/books?id=s1AEAAAAYAAJ]

He also wrote "Illustrations of Indian Ornithology" in 1844, which included illustration made by Indian artists, about which he wrote in his later works:

Other works included "The Game Birds and Wildfowl of India" (1864) and "Mammals of India" (1874). He had a wide interest in natural history and his studies include descriptions of plants, ants, amphibians, reptiles, birds as well as mammals. Jerdon was instrumental in the birth of the "Fauna of British India" series. The need for a work on the Indian fauna was felt and it was finally approved by the Secretary of state and was placed under the editorship of W. T. Blanford.

R. A. Sterndale mentions a note from Jerdon on an otter that he kept as a pet (probably at Tellicherry) [Sterndale,Robert A., 1884. Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon]

Writings

* Jerdon, T. C. 1840 Cuculus himalayanus sp. n. Madras J. Literature and Science 11: 12-13
* Jerdon, T. C. 1842 Cuculus venustus sp. n. Madras J. Literature and Science 13: 140
* Jerdon, T. C. 1847 Illustrations of Indian Ornithology 1036 (September 4, 1847)
* Jerdon, T. C. 1851 A catalogue of the species of ants found in southern India. Madras J. Lit. Sci. 17: 103-127
* Jerdon, T. C. 1853 Catalogue of Reptiles inhabiting the Peninsula of India. J. Asiat. Soc. 153
* Jerdon, T. C. 1854 A catalogue of the species of ants found in southern India. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2)13: 45-56
* Jerdon, T. C. 1863 The Birds of India. Volume I 1857 (May 30, 1863)
* Jerdon, T. C. 1864 The Birds of India. Volume II, Part I 1895 (February 20, 1864)
* Jerdon, T. C. 1864 The Birds of India. Volume III 1931 (October 29, 1864)
* Jerdon, T. C. 1870 Notes on Indian Herpetology. P. Asiatic Soc. Bengal March 1870: 66-85
* Jerdon, T. C. 1874 The mammals of India: natural history. John Wheldon, London.

References

Other sources

* Elliot, W., 1873. Memoir of Dr T. C. Jerdon.— Hist. Berwickshire Nat. Cl., 7: 143-151.

External links

* [http://www.zoonomen.net/bio/bioj.html Biographies from Zoonomen]
* [http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu:210/hymenoptera/taxon_catalog.list_publications_by_author?id=2182 Jerdon's ant publications]
* [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/iczn/BZNDec2004general_articles.htm Dates of publications of Jerdon's catalogue]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/mammalsofindiana00jerdrich Scanned version of Mammals of India on www.archive.org]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/birdsofindiabein01jerd Birds of India Vol 1]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/birdsofindiabein21jerd Birds of India Vol 2 part 1]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/birdsofindiabein03jerd Birds of India Vol 3]