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Article: Ornithology
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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ORNITHOLOGY
ORNITHOLOGY,
the branch of natural history that deals with the systematic study of birds, began in America in the eighteenth century. The British naturalist Mark Catesby was the first individual to thoroughly document the flora and fauna of the New World. His illustrated, two-volume work,
Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands
(1731
–
1743), included descriptions of more than a hundred North American birds.
Early Studies
In the period surrounding the Revolutionary War, Philadelphia served as an important center for American natural history. A pivotal figure here was William Bartram, whose
Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, ...