Old books about birds

On 19 October 2014, in Naturalis museum in Leiden, the Netherlands, there were not only the recent natural history books of the Jan Wolkers Prize nominees, and the old natural history books discussed by nominee Alexander Reeuwijk. There was also this 1904 book about birds. Again, all photos in this blog post are cellphone made.

This bird book, Het Vogeljaar (The Bird Year), is by famous Dutch naturalist Jac. P. Thijsse. In later editions, pictures like this one would be replaced by photos. This picture shows pheasants, wood pigeons and wrynecks.

This detail of the picture shows a wryneck.

Second hand bookshop Moby Dick (called after the famous Herman Melville novel) from Noordwijk had brought late nineteenth-early twentieth century books to the museum. Like this one from 1886 by Dutch author A. Nuyens. The picture shows colourful birds: starling, red-backed shrike, golden oriole, Bohemian waxwing, jay, hoopoe and kingfisher.

Next to it, this book, by Irishman Francis Orpen Morris: A History of British Birds. The photo shows a male and a female snowy owl.

A book from Germany was present as well. It was Deutsches Vogelbuch für Forst- und Landwirte, Jäger, Naturfreunde und Vogelliebhaber (1907). Kurt Floericke was the author. Albert Kull made the pictures. This page shows various Old World flycatcher species, and a Bohemian waxwing.

Finally, a picture of cranes. Two demoiselle cranes, and a Siberian crane.

Related articles

• Bird anatomy art, lecture by Katrina van Grouw
• Good bee news from Amsterdam, but …
• Winged Warnings: Built for Survival, Birds in Trouble From Pole to Pole
• Dutch conservationist Eli Heimans’ centenary
• Nightjars on Texel island
• Birds and art, exhibition in England
• Taita Hills, Kenya, new natural history guidebook
• How dinosaurs are depicted
• Euro Birdwatch 2014 in the Netherlands