Last week we put the ending touches to our latest exhibition on the Royal Society, ‘Clamorous Wings: Birds in Science’. It will come as no shock to study that the main focus is on ornithology.
The exhibition covers a spread of scientific exercise referring to the research of birds. It begins with gathering efforts within the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in addition to early makes an attempt to catalogue recognized species. Moving on to take a look at later analysis into the mechanics of flight and the evolution of birds from their dinosaur ancestors, ‘Clamorous Wings’ then concludes with recent research of hen ecology. There’s additionally area dedicated to the artwork of hen illustration, together with a monograph by John Gould FRS, with illustrations by his spouse Elizabeth and the artist Edward Lear.
One curious merchandise on show is Henry Hunt’s watercolour of a hoopoe. Hunt was employed by the Royal Society in 1676, initially as an operator, although his function later included managing the Society’s Library and Repository (museum) collections. His inventive skills had been in demand as effectively: he usually created sketches and watercolours of specimens introduced at conferences and contributed many illustrations to articles within the Philosophical Transactions.
Hunt’s drawing of the hoopoe is titled with its Latin identify Upupa and is most certainly a Eurasian hoopoe, a hen discovered all through a lot of Europe, Asia and North Africa. They predominantly feed on bugs, utilizing their lengthy beaks to probe the bottom seeking prey. The species will not be native to Britain however is usually noticed in southern England through the spring migration interval – the RSPB estimates that we might get as many as 100 guests every year.
Henry Hunt’s watercolour of a hoopoe (RS.9375)
Hunt has helpfully signed his piece however hasn’t dated it, so it’s exhausting to make certain when this paintings was produced, or for what objective. There are clues elsewhere within the archives which we are able to look to, nevertheless. Most apparently, we all know that the Royal Society did have a hoopoe specimen within the Repository right now.
Frederick Slare was a doctor who was elected to the Fellowship in 1680 and served on Council for a number of years. On 23 September 1691 he introduced a brief paper at a Society assembly describing ‘the Upupa found not long since in Surrey near Darking [Dorking]’. Slare additionally gifted the pores and skin of the hen to the Society at that very same assembly, in response to the minutes.
In the paper, which is archived as CLP/15i/42, Slare explains that the hen was really delivered to him alive, although ultimately it survived solely a short while in captivity. He describes the hen’s crest and markings and compares it to the outline in Francis Willughby’s Ornithology, concluding that his hen have to be a juvenile, as it’s somewhat smaller than the one described by Willughby and its plumage not so distinct. Slare remarks that the black recommendations on the crest are very clear, however the white stripes beneath them should not but effectively outlined. This would seem to match Hunt’s drawing, which reveals almost no white within the crest.
Drawing of an grownup hoopoe with outlined white streaks within the crest, from Gleanings of pure historical past quantity 3 by George Edwards FRS (1764)
If we settle for that Hunt’s drawing does present Slare’s specimen, then there are a few explanations for its creation. Several of Slare’s papers had been printed within the Philosophical Transactions, however his description of the hoopoe was not amongst them. It’s potential that an article was into account at one level, and Hunt ready his drawing in anticipation. Alternatively, Hunt might have undertaken this as a part of his work managing the Repository. He produced quite a few sketches and work of specimens from the gathering throughout his time on the Society, and the hoopoe will need to have made a nice change from sketching bladder stones and monstrous radishes.
Henry Hunt’s sketch of a silver bodkin encrusted in a bladder stone (MS/131/98-A)
It appears unlikely that Slare’s hoopoe pores and skin has survived to the current day, which prevents us from evaluating it on to Hunt’s drawing. It is listed in a 1735 catalogue of the Repository however is conspicuously absent from the lists produced within the 1760s. It’s exhausting to think about that the distinctive hoopoe wouldn’t have been recognized through the itemizing train if the specimen had been nonetheless intact. That mentioned, these later lists don’t at all times present probably the most detailed descriptions: ‘Head of an unknown bird’ is one thing of a low level, and a mirrored image on the poor situation of the Repository by this time.
A hoopoe in Hungary, by Andy Morffew
If you need to take a more in-depth have a look at Hunt’s hoopoe illustration for your self, the exhibition is now open till the summer season. There are a lot extra ornithological wonders on show as effectively, together with a register of swan marks from sixteenth-century Lincolnshire, a penguin egg from Antarctica, a camouflaged hen viewer from Nikolaas Tinbergen FRS, and rather more. Just drop us a line at [email protected] should you’d like to rearrange a flying go to.
