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| INTRODUCTION TO BIRDS |
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Birds, which Roger Tory Peterson has called “the only other two legged creatures on earth,” have been an integral part of man’s relationship with his world since time began. Prehistoric man depicted eagles, owls, and swans on his cave walls. Egyptian tombs and Greek floor tiles showed geese and cranes in elegant landscapes. Medieval manuscripts placed birds (which have both secular and religious symbolism) in elaborately illuminated borders, but more widespread illustrations of these creatures appeared after the invention of moveable type and printing press in the 15th century. Although bird images appeared in early books, the first serious attempt to study birds occurred in Conrad Gesner’s Historiae Animalium in the 16th century. Whether from a medieval prohibition on drawing from life or from a naïve eye, Renaissance bird illustrators had trouble translating reality into art; certain species appear almost anthropomorphic. Several factors at the end of the 17th century moved ornithological studies into high gear: advances in printing technology, private interest in travel, public patronage of expeditions, and the substitution of national languages for Latin in scholarly publications. As the 18th century moved forward, attempts were made to group or classify birds. Knowledge was based on collections of feathers, skins, and stuffed birds. Illustrations, often enhanced with color, were detailed and accurate, but still contrived; stiff birds sat on a twig with imaginary backgrounds. The study of ornithology reached its zenith in the 19th century. Dance explains, “instead of having birds sent back to the ornithologists, the ornithologists were sent out to the birds.” A developing middle class had the money and leisure to collect and purchase both live and stuffed species. The introduction of lithography made larger and cheaper editions for study possible (i.e. the Gould and Audubon studies.) The invention of the camera and the advent of the photomechanical press brought an end to the great bird books but not to the study of ornithology. In the late 19th century, Fuertes brought the study into the 20th century where it continues to flourish.
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