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Henry Seebohm.

Henry Seebohm (1832-1896), an English ornithologist, published a number of books from 1880 onwards. These are listed on this page with the most recent at the top.

A second page:

Henry Seebohm reprints

lists a selection of later reprints of his work.

 

The Birds Of Siberia

A Record Of A Naturalist's Visits To The Valleys Of The Petchora And Yenesei

Henry Seebohm

John Murray

1901

From the introduction:

"The following pages contain the narrative of Mr. Seebohm's two Siberian Expeditions the first undertaken in 1875 in company with Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown of Dunipace to the valley of the Petchora; the other, more lengthy and arduous, to the Yenesei river in 1877, when, though without any fellow-naturalist to share his labours, he had the advantage of the companionship of Captain Wiggins, the well-known Siberian navigator. Under the respective titles of "Siberia in Europe" and "Siberia in Asia," the results of these two journeys were published in 1880 and 1882. Both works having passed out of print, it was arranged to combine them in one volume. Mr. Seebohm set about the task, and had nearly finished it when his death occurred. With regard to the present completion of it, it is only necessary to say that, though the author has in various places made emendations of his former text, the nomenclature and the ornithology generally are here given as he left them. Certain passages which were unnecessary to a combined edition, or which had been superseded by subsequent information, have been omitted. Limitation of space has also necessitated the omission of the lengthy footnotes, which chiefly referred to the geographical distribution of birds, but this omission, if not in its entirety, was at all events to a large extent contemplated by the author himself."
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A Monograph Of The Turdidae, Or, Family Of Thrushes

Henry Seebohm

Edited and completed after the author's death by R. Bowdler Sharpe

Illustrations: J.G. Keulemans and possibly others

Henry Southeran & Co

1898-1902

From the introduction:

"In the present work I trust that I have carried out the intentions of my friend, the late Mr. Henry Seebohm, when he conceived the idea of writing a 'Monograph of the Turdidae, or Family of Thrushes.' Shortly after the completion of the fifth volume of the 'Catalogue of Birds,' Mr. Seebohm made preparations to publish a Monograph of the Thrushes, a group of birds of which at that time he had a profound knowledge, and until his death in 1895 he continued to employ Mr. Keulemans in drawing the Plates for the book which he intended to issue. Nearly all the Plates which illustrate the present volumes were prepared during Mr. Seebohm's lifetime, and were coloured in anticipation of their speedy publication. Several have been since added by the Publishers in order to bring the work up to date."
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Coloured Figures Of The Eggs Of British Birds

Henry Seebohm

Edited (after the author's death) by R. Bowdler Sharpe

Pawson and Brailsford

1896

From the introduction:

"To edit any work on British Birds and their eggs is not an easy task. To edit the work of such a past master on the subject as my late friend Henry Seebohm, would have been difficult indeed, had I not had his volumes on "British Birds" on which to rely. I have done my best to present this work as I believe he would have wished it to be issued. In a very few cases I have altered the names of species, where I believe he would have altered them himself, but in the main I have retained his nomenclature throughout, and have adhered closely to the names employed by him in his great work on British Birds, merely adding a reference to Mr. Howard Saunders' "Manual," and my own "Handbook of British Birds," where the nomenclature of the species differs from that used by Mr. Seebohm. With the system of classification I have had nothing to do, as before his death he had planned out and settled the order of the plates with his friend Mr. J. A. Brailsford, and this arrangement has consequently been followed. It is satisfactory to know that, whilst many recent Ornithological illustrations have avowedly been " made in Germany," in this instance all the work in connection with the drawing of the eggs, the lithographing of the plates, the printing of the letterpress, and the binding of the volume has been done in Sheffield, at the works of Messrs. Pawson & Brailsford, who are the publishers of the book."
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Geographical Distribution Of British Birds

Henry Seebohm

R.H. Porter

1893

Preface:

"The following attempt to make some amends to the Members of the British Ornithologists' Union for the thousand and one blunders contained in a list of British Birds compiled by their committee^ for which I, as one of the seven delinquents, must bear my share of responsibility and blame, does not pretend to be exempt from the universal liability to error. All it can claim is that some pains have been taken to master the subject and to weigh the balance of evidence in each case as impartially as possible. The attempt has been made to classify British Birds in three different ways. Firstly, as to their distribution within the British Islands; secondly, as to their distribution during the breeding-season outside the British Islands; and thirdly, as to their climatic distribution during the breeding season. Finally, a list of British Birds has been added containing as much information respecting the geographical distribution of each species as could be compressed into four or five lines. This list is printed on one side of the paper only, so that it can be cut up and used as labels for collections of stuffed birds or eggs."
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Classification Of Birds

An Attempt To Diagnose The Subclasses, Orders, Suborders, And Some Of The Families Of Existing Birds

Henry Seebohm

R.H. Porter

1890

From the introduction:

"The following is an attempt to classify existing Birds in groups which are capable of being diagnosed. I have divided the Class Aves into six Subclasses, fourteen Orders, and thirty-six Suborders. These Subclasses, Orders, and Suborders are diagnosed by a series of characters each of which is believed to be found in every species contained in the group diagnosed, and the combination of which is believed not to occur in any species outside that group. In order to show that each combination is diagnostic, a list of the thirty-six suborders is attached to each diagnosis, and a star is placed under each suborder in which every species it contains is excluded by the character referred to by a letter at the side of the column in which the star is placed. In most cases a few additional characters are given to strengthen the diagnosis. In selecting characters I have been careful to choose those which are supposed to denote affinity - in other words, to be due to inheritance from common ancestors ; and as far as possible to avoid such as only denote analogy, that is to say such as are only instances where like causes have produced like effects. It is, however, very difficult to tell which characters have been inherited and which have been independently acquired. In many cases it is only possible to guess, in others it is absolutely impossible to form any opinion at all. It may perhaps be fairly assumed that the more complicated a character is, the less chance is there that it can have been independently acquired by two groups. It may also be taken for granted that it is very much more difficult even for a simple character to be independently acquired than to be independently lost."
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The Birds Of The Japanese Empire

Henry Seebohm

R.H. Porter

1890

From the preface:

"During the last ten years I have been making a collection of Japanese Birds, and have accumulated a carefully selected series of more than two thousand skins, out of the many thousands that have passed through my hands. I am indebted to Captain Blakiston for the most interesting of these specimens, some of which were in the Swinhoe Collection, whilst others were sent to me from time to time during the many years' residence of Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi. I am also indebted to the late Mr. Harry Pryer for many skins of birds from Southern Japan, and at his death, after many years' residence in Yokohama, when his collection came into my hands, I began to prepare my notes on Japanese Birds for the press."
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The Geographical Distribution Of The Family Charadriidae, Or The Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, And Their Allies

Henry Seebohm

Illustrations: J.G. Keulemans and possibly others

Henry Southeran & Co

1888

From the preface:

"About twenty years ago Mr. J. E. Harting began to collect information relating to the group of birds commonly called the Limicolae, with the intention of publishing a monograph of them. In the course of his studies he contributed from time to time articles on this group of birds to 'The Ibis' and to the 'Proceedings' of the Zoological Society; but subsequently his attention drifted into other channels, until in 1884 he abandoned the idea of writing a monograph, and offered his collection of birds for sale. I was then writing on the British species belonging to the group, which had always been an especial favourite of mine, and was glad of the opportunity of making my collection more complete. I therefore bought the Harting collection, which, with the Swinhoe collection, already in my Museum, and the Shelley collection of African Limicolae since acquired, provided me with ample material for study as soon as the last part of the 'History of British Birds' had gone to press. The result of this study is the present volume. Acting in accordance with the old proverb "bis dat qui cito dat," I determined not to write a monograph. What I had to say on the habits of these birds I had already said in the work referred to: on the other hand, I found that the study of all the species contained in the group threw quite a different light upon their geographical distribution, and enabled me to correct what appeared to be errors in their classification - their mutual relationship, in fact; so I determined to make these two subjects the theme of the book."
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A History Of British Birds, With Coloured Illustrations Of Their Eggs

Henry Seebohm

R.H. Porter

1883-1885

Published in 4 volumes. Volumes 1 to 3 comprise the descriptions of the species with some black and white illustrations. Volume 4 comprises coloured plates of eggs.

From the authors introduction:

The number of books which have been published on British birds is so great that it might be thought that every thing that could be said on the subject had been already well said. But such is the rapid progress which ornithology has made during the last few years that even the earlier portions of Dresser's Birds of Europe and Newton's edition of Yarrel's British Birds are quite out of date. Not only have many important gaps in the geographical distribution of some of our commoner birds been filled up, and a large part of the history of some of the rarer ones been discovered, but in many respects I have found it necessary to look upon the whole subject from a different point of view. The arguments in favour of the theory that the species of animals now existing in the world were evolved by natural laws, some of which we have discovered, from species of a more primitive type which lived in remote geological ages are so irresistible that it is impossible to ignore them. At the first glance it would seem that the development of a species was a subject quite apart from its present history; but it will be found that this question of the development of species by evolution is one which lies at the foundation of all inquiries into the history of individual species; and when it is answered in the aflirmative, the study of ornithology is found to possess a new interest, many obscure points become comparatively clear, and the old treatment of the subject requires modifying in various ways.
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Siberia In Asia

A Visit To The Valley Of The Yenesay In East Siberia

Henry Seebohm

John Murray

1882

From the preface:

"Siberia in Asia is a pendant to Siberia in Europe. It is a narrative of a longer and more adventurous journey on the other side of the Urals, undertaken two years afterwards, but with the same objects in view. In 1875 I had the advantage of enjoying the companionship of an ornithologist as enthusiastic as myself, but in 1877 I was obliged to do my bird work alone. It is possible, however, that the general reader may not regret the change, and may find the dash of commercial enterprise and Arctic exploration reflected from Captain Wiggins a pleasant relief from the monotony of the toujours oiseaux of my former volume. To some extent, however, 'Siberia in Asia' must be a repetition of 'Siberia in Europe.' Though the meridian of the Caspian is altered to the meridian of the Gulf of Bengal, the latitude remains the same, but I venture to hope that a previous glimpse of the forests and the tundra of the Petchora will have added to rather than have detracted from the interest of the reader in the forests and the tundra of the Yenesay .....

.... I have endeavoured to make the ornithological part of my book as interesting to the general reader as possible. As before, I have added particulars of the geographical distribution of the birds mentioned in the form of notes, but I have confined these to the birds which we did not find on the first journey, not deeming it necessary to repeat the notes of my former volume."
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Siberia In Europe

A Visit To The Valley Of The Petchora, In North-East Russia

Henry Seebohm

John Murray

1880

From the preface:

"The following pages contain the narrative of a trip, which I made in the year 1875, to the lower valley of the Petchora, in North-East Russia, in company with my friend J. A. Harvie-Brown, Esq., of Dunipace, a naturalist well known in ornithological circles for excellent field-work in various parts of Scotland, in Archangel, and in Transylvania. I have endeavoured to portray the character of the people with whom we came in contact with as little political or religious bias as possible, and to give as vivid a picture as I was able of a country widely different from our own, and possessing a climate of an almost opposite character to that of England. Little or nothing of importance has been added since my return home. I have given the reader credit for wishing to know something more of the birds we met with than we learnt on our trip, and I have endeavoured to give him an opportunity of satisfying his curiosity by foot-notes, to which he may refer or not as he likes. In some cases I have been obliged to correct errors of identification which we occasionally made; and T Lave introduced a chapter on the migration of birds, but inasmuch as this was principally written upon the island of Heligoland, it can scarcely be looked upon as padding. Whatever merit the book may possess will doubtless be owing to the fact that it was for the most part written upon the spot. It is a faithful transcript of a stranger's first impressions of a part of Europe seldom or never visited by Englishmen, written at post stations whilst the horses were being changed, or in peasants' cottages, wrecked ships, or wherever our temporary quarters may have been. The accuracy which ornithological observations demand, made it imperatively necessary that what was seen should be at once recorded, and many a time eighteen or twenty hours' field-work have been followed by two or three hours' writing before we allowed ourselves rest. The general reader may perhaps complain that the book is too ornithological; but lie must remember that an enthusiasm of some sort is necessary to lead the traveller into scenes where no hotels exist, where unknown difficulties have to be met, and which are absolutely virgin ground to the tourist."
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Last updated November 2013