#selmar hess

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A Conjugal Feathursday

Conjugal Relations and Their Consequences

This week we present more sentimental wood engravings of sparrows from Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G. Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885. The 3-volume set (volume 2 is dedicated to birds) includes scores of wood engravings and many chromolithographs. The message of the engraving of birds and bees is not lost on us, but we wonder about the intended Victorian audience.

These wood engravings were made by the French engraver Édouard Berveiller (fl. 1874–1894) from drawings by the French naturalist artist and wood engraver Hector Giacomelli (1822-1904). We believe that the sentimental image showed a few weeks ago is supposed to be a part of this family narrative.

Our copy of Animate Creaton is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

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A Resplendent Feathursday

The Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), identified here as the Resplendent Trogon, is a Central American bird in the family Trogonidae and is the largest of the trogons. It is also the national animal of Guatemala, and is pictured on the flag and coat of arms; it also gives its name to the country's currency, the Guatemalan quetzal.

The image shown here is a chromolithograph printed by the noted Boston lithographing firm L. Prang & Company for Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G Wood, published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885. The publication is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

Oh, oh! Looks like there's a nasty bit of business about to go down beneath the unsuspecting quetzals.

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A Sentimental Feathursday

For our sentimentalist followers, we offer this sweet, little wood engraving, "First Lessons in Flight," of sparrow fledglings in the nest with mama and papa by the French naturalist artist and wood engraver Hector Giacomelli (1822-1904), from Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G. Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885. The 3-volume set (volume 2 is dedicated to birds) includes scores of wood engravings and many chromolithographs.

Giacomelli is best remembered for his bird paintings and illustrations, and he is noted for his work with master wood engraver and illustrator Gustave Doré (1832-1883), especially for Doré's highly-successful, 1866 Bible with 241 engravings.

Our copy of Animate Creaton is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

Hector Giacomelli (1822-1904)

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A Hoopoesque Feathursday

HOOPOES!!

Here is a wood engraving of the exquisitely-crested Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) from a drawing by the German nature artist Robert Kretschmer (1812-1872), as published in Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G. Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885.

We can never get enough of these excellent birds, found throughout Eurasia and the northern half of Africa. They're really good at eradicating pests; can't we import some to America? It's hard to tell what these birds might be related to, but they are a genus in the order Bucerotiformes, and so, perhaps surprisingly, are most closely related to hornbills. Of its magnificent fan-like crest, J. G. Wood relates this legend:

Solomon was once journeying across the desert and was fainting with heat, when a large flock of Hoopoes came to his assistance, and by flying between the sun and the monarch formed an impenetrable cloud with their wings and bodies. Grateful for their ready help, Solomon asked the birds what reward they would choose in return for their services. . . . the Hoopes answered that they would like each bird to be decorated with a golden crown; and, in spite of Solomon's advice, they persisted in their request, and received their crowns accordingly.

At first the birds rejoiced in their diadems of gold, but not long after they began to find themselves hunted for these valuable commodities. And so they sought out Solomon. . . .

full of repentance at their rejection of his advice, and begging him to rescind the gift which they so unwisely demanded. Solomon granted their request, and removed the golden crown from their heads; but, being unwilling that the birds should be left without a mark by which they might be distinguished from their fellows, he substituted a crown of feathers for that gold, and dismissed them rejoicing.

Our copy of Animate Creation is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

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A Feathursday in Paradise

This chromolithograph focuses on the Paradise Flycatcher (Genus: Terpsiphone) but it also depicts a number of other bird species, including some Black-headed Ibises (Threskiornis melanocephalus), some night herons (probably the Black-crowned, Nycticorax nycticorax), a Black Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina), a Flamingo (Greater or Lesser, we don't know), and some unidentified egrets, although we are unsure if all these birds can actually be found in same area of paradise. We also can't tell what species of Paradise Flycatcher is being depicted, as it seems to have markings from different species.

Once again, this print is by the noted Boston lithographing firm L. Prang & Company for Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885. Our copy of is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

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A Harrying Feathursday

The Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius), also known as the Marsh Hawk, is a raptor that breeds throughout Canada and the northernmost United States. It mainly hunts small mammals by flying low to the ground in open areas and surprising their prey. It is thought that harriers diversified with the expansion of grasslands during the Late Miocene and Pliocene. There are 16 species of harrier on every inhabitable continent, but the Northern Harrier is the only North American species.

This wood engraving of harriers is from an illustrations by German wildlife artist Gustav Mützel (1839-1893) and engraved by Karl Jahrmargt (b. 1842), as published in Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G. Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885. Our copy of Animate Creaton is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

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A Weavers Feathursday

Here's another chromolithograph printed by the noted Boston lithographing firm L. Prang & Company for Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885. It proports to show weaver birds, so-called because of their elaborately woven nests. We haven't been able to determine what species the top two birds in the print represent, but of the remaining two, only one, the group of four predominately red birds at bottom, are true weavers (Family Ploceidae). This is the Sub-Saharan Black-winged Red Bishop (Euplectes hordeaceus).

The birds in the center are Long-tailed Paradise Whydahs (Vidua paradisaea) of southern Africa, family Viduidae. They have long been included among the weavers, but studies have shown that they are more closely related to the Vidua. They also do not make woven nests like weavers, but rather are brood parasites that lay their eggs in nests of other songbirds like the rest of the species in the family Viduidae.

Our copy of Animate Creaton is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

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Feathursday Keas

The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is a large South Island, New Zealand parrot in the Strigopidae family, which also includes the Kākā and our favorite flightless bird, the Kākāpō. Keas are omnivorous, and because some Kea individuals were thought to prey on sheep, they were bounty-hunted in the 20th century, reducing their population from hundreds of thousands to between 3000 and 7000. Today Keas are classified as endangered.

This wood engraving of "Nestor-parrots" is by Karl Jahrmargt (b. 1842) from an illustration by the noted German wildlife artist Gustav Mützel (1839-1893), as published in Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G. Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885.

Our copy of Animate Creation is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

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