Preconfederation Ornithology

(1694-1773)

For a more detailed background history on the evolution of 18th century avian artwork please see the paper on Edwards predecessor, Eleazar Albin, in this section.

This paper provides an overview of the life of George Edwards with emphasis n his mid-18th century Newfoundland bird records. Edwards made a more major contribution to 18th century Canadian ornithology with his publication of the bird records of Hudson's Bay naturalists operating in Hudson and James Bay in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. Please see papers on Alexander Light, James Isham and others filed under those provinces elsewhere on this site.

George Edwards is often referred to as the Father of British Ornithology. Of fairly modest upbringing, Edwards showed at an early age a passion for art and the study of natural history, particularly birds.

In his twenties Edwards travelled to Holland, Norway and France where he observed flora and fauna in the field, and collections first-hand. Fortunately for Edwards' career he came in contact with the wealthy medical doctor and natural history collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). In 1733 Sloane offered Edwards the position of librarian at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. Edwards readily accepted.

George Edwards From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

Through his association with Sloane, and Sloane's many prominent collecting friends, Edwards had access to a large variety of ornithological material flowing into England from North America and around the world. Edward's unique position allowed him to become one of the first naturalists who could afford to devote his efforts to his interest in ornithology.

At the urging of his friend, Mark Catesby, Edwards learned to etch his own plates. His first publication, the Natural History of Uncommon Birds was published in four volumes between 1743 and 1751. In total these volumes contained 249 fine bird plates, 57 of which were from North America. In each case the birds are exactly drawn, some with both male and female shown. Edward's drawings were accompanied by what E. G. Allen in her article "American Ornithology Before Audubon" in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 41, describes as "meticulous" descriptions.

Whenever possible Edwards insisted on seeing the birds himself, developing his own collection, and travelling long distances to see live specimens so he could arrange the bird's pose in the most natural way possible. One of the key collections that Edward's visited was that of Dr. John Fothergill (1712-1780), who went on to become London's most prominent physician. Fothergill was also a great plant collector. During his lifetime he established and maintained strong connections with collectors in America. They provided him with material to stock his botanical garden, the finest in England in the late 18th century. Dr. John Fothergill was part of a family of famous English naturalists and great uncle of Charles Fothergill (1782-1840), first resident ornithologist in Upper Canada. See the Charles Fothergill papers under 19th century Ontario.

Edwards authored a second book in three volumes entitled Gleanings of Natural History published between 1758 and 1764. These volumes contained thirty-five additional species of North American birds. Accounting for duplicate species McAtee in his article "The North American Birds of George Edwards" in Journal for the Society of the History of Natural History counted in total eighty-nine species, almost all etched and fully described.

In a more modern accounting of Edwards North American contributions, Stuart Houston in his Eighteenth Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay notes Edwards' works contained almost six hundred subjects of natural history not previously delineated which included "the first depictions and descriptions of eighty-six North American birds..."

Edwards corresponded with the great American naturalist John Bartram of Philadelphia including Bartram's field notes in his write-ups of North American birds. He presented a paper to the Royal Society in January, 1754 on the Ruffed Grouse largely based on Bartram's notes. This was the first time a paper had been presented to the Society on a North American bird.

Edwards kept live North American birds so he could study them. Some were given to him in meetings with Hudson's Bay company employees on furlough in England. Edwards was the first to provide detailed descriptions of the live and dead specimens they provided, as well as etch faithful images.

Early Canadian bird records of George Edwards have been examined by Allen, W. L. McAtee and Houston. The vast majority of Edwards' Canadian bird records relate to Hudson's Bay. As noted, Edwards contribution to Canadian ornithology from the Hudson's Bay area will be found elsewhere.

This paper outlines George Edward's records from Newfoundland using articles by Allen and McAtee.

Edwards published his final volume of Gleanings two years before Joseph Banks historic first natural history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada in1766. Regrettably Banks did not publish the many important findings of his expedition. Given the paucity of material that has emerged to date, largely in Thomas Pennant's Arctic Zoology, one can only lament that George Edwards did not produce a third set of volumes to cover the results of the expedition.

Currently, my wife, Victoria Dickenson, has been working on a research project on wealthy London judge, Taylor White, who commissioned a large number of natural history artworks during this period. This material includes avian artwork from the Banks' Newfoundland and Labrador collections. A paper on White will eventually appear on this website which, along with a paper on Banks, will summarize the results of the Banks expedition.

Albin's Common Loon and Edwards seabirds, listed below, are the only records known from Newfoundland prior to the Banks expedition. All were first Canadian records.

Species Recorded by Edwards from Newfoundland in A Natural History of Uncommon Birds (1743-1751) are summarized as follows:

Common Name	Edward's Name	Volume Reference
Red-breasted Merganser	Red-Breasted Goosander	:95 (1747)
Harlequin Duck	Dusky and Spotted Duck	:99
Bufflehead	Little Black and White Duck	2:100
Long-tailed Duck	Long-tailed Duck	:156 (1750)
Great Auk	Northern Penguin	:147

These five seabirds were all collected in Newfoundland by Grand Banks fishermen. Three: the Red-breasted Merganser, Harlequin Duck and Bufflehead were found in the collection of George Holmes (1662-1749) at the Tower of London. The Great Auk specimen Edwards borrowed from the master of a fishing vessel who captured it in a bait trap. The Long-tailed Duck was borrowed from a Mr. Furzer, a prominent London barrister of New-Inn, Middle Temple, Aldwych. Furzer is noted in the description provided below.

Edwards was a close associate of Linnaeus with whom he shared his records. Linnaeus, in a letter to Edwards in 1764, was to write, as quoted by Allen:

I congratulate you on the acquisition of such beautiful and innumerable rare birds, beyond what any other person has seen, or is likely to meet with; still less is any other hand likely to equal your representations in which nothing is wanting to the birds but their song.

The Long-tailed Duck described in Systema Naturae: 12 came from Edwards' Newfoundland specimen. Linnaeus gave first describer status for this species to Edwards.

The four other descriptions and artwork of seabirds published by Edwards in his Natural History were all attributed to Linnaeus as first describer. Two in 1758 in Systema Naturae 11: Red-breasted Merganser and Great Auk were described from North Sea specimens.

Linnaeus's official descriptions of the Harlequin Duck from "Canada" and Bufflehead from "North America" are found in the 1766 edition of Systema Naturae 12. Lysaght in her book Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador, specifically states that Linnaeus based his first description of the Harlequin Duck from Edwards Newfoundland specimen. It is likely that his description of the Bufflehead is from Edwards' Newfoundland specimen as well.

Edwards provided the following comments about the Long-tailed Duck:

This Duck was taken on the fishing-banks of Newfoundland in America, and is now, A. D. 1754, preserved in the collection of Mr. Furzer of New-Inn, London, who obliged me with the use of it. This figure was etched on the copper-plate immediately from nature. I am doubtful whether this Bird is not of the same species with the Long-tailed Duck from Hudson's Bay, figured in my *History of Birds*, pl. 156. On comparison, I think it possible that they may be male and female, their measures, and the figures of their bills and feet, agreeing very nearly: but I submit this opinion to the further inquiry of naturalists. 

Below is Edwards' description of the Harlequin Duck published in 1747. A comparison of Albin's economical description of the Common Loon in 1738 with what one one might describe as Edwards' "meticulous" description of the Harlequin Duck, shows that scientific rigour in descriptive ornithology was undergoing considerable change:

Dusky and Spotted Duck. This Bird is about the Bigness of the common Mallard or Duck; it hath a shorter Bill by a third Part, and not so much compressed as in the common Duck: The Bill measures from the Point to the Angles of the Mouth one Inch and a Half; the Wing when closed is seven Inches and a half long. The Bill is of a Dark or Blackish Colour, indented on the Edges of the upper and lower Part, where they meet; the Nostrils are pretty near together in the upper Part of the Bill; it is a little hooked at the Point of the upper Mandible: The Sides of the Head between the Bill and Eyes are White, from which on each Side there extends a Line of White over the Eyes, which changes gradually into a Reddish Orange-colour, and reaches to the hind Part of the Head; the Eye-lids beneath the Eyes are White; it hath also a white Spot on each Side of the Head, about the Place of the Ears; there is also a white Line passes from the hind Part of the Head on each Side down the Neck; the Crown of the Head is Black, the Feathers on the Forehead extending in a Peek into the Bill between the Nostrils; the Sides of the Head behind the Eyes are of a dark Blue, a little inclining to Purple; the whole Neck, both before and behind, between the white Lines, is Black; between the Bottom of the Neck and Breast is a Collar or Circle of White, continued almost round it, being broken off only a little just behind; the Feathers bordering on this Collar, both above and beneath, are of a deep Black; there are between this Collar and the Wings on each Side a longish Plat of white Feathers bordered round with Black, transversely placed; the Back. is next the Neck of a dark purplish Blue, in the Middle of a dirty black Brow; the Rump and Covert Feathers of the Tail are of a deep Black, with a blue Gloss: The greater Quills of the Wing, and the Tail Feathers are of a dirty black Brown-colour; the middle Quills have their outer Webs of a fine shining Blue Purple; the Coverts immediately above these middle Quills are of the same Colour, with white Tips; the inner Quills next the Back, and the Feathers that spring from the Shoulders and fall over them, are of a blueish Ash-colour on the Borders of their Webs, and White in their Middles down by their Shafts 5 the lesser Coverts of the Wings are Ash-colour, with a white Spot in the middle of them on each Wing; the Ridge of the Wings about the Joint is of a Reddish Brown; the Insides of the Wings are of a Dusky Brown-colour; the Breast below the Collar is of a blueish Ash-colour; the Belly and Thighs of a more dirty Colour, inclining to Black; the Feathers on the Sides are of a Red Brown or dull Orange-colour, which partly cover the Wings when they are closed: There is on each Side of the Tail, where the upper and under covert Feathers meet, a small white Spot; the Legs, Feet and Claws are of a blueish Black; the Toes webbed and finned, as the Figure expresses them. This Bird was brought with others, preserved, from Newfoundland in America: It was lent me by Mr. Holms of the Tower of London; he says the Newfoundland fishers call it the Lordy for what Reason. I cannot tell; but I suppose the Reason of this Name may be from the Likeness of a Chain it has about its Neck, seeing the wearing of Gold Chains is an antient Mark of Dignity in Europe. I cannot discover any Figure, or the least Hint of Description of this Bird; so I believe I may venture to pronounce it a non descript. 

George Edwards "Dusky and Spotted Duck" from his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds.2:99 (1747)

Bibliography

• Allen, E. G. 1951. "The History of American Ornithology Before Audubon". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 41. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society.
• Edwards, George. 1743-1751. A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. 4 Volumes. London: College of Physicians
• Edwards, George. 1758-1764. Gleanings in Natural History. 3 Volumes. London: College of Physicians
• Houston, Stuart, Tim Ball and Mary Houston. 2003. Eighteenth Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press
• Lysaght, A. M. 1971. Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1766. Berkeley and Los Angles: University of California Press
• McAtee. W. L. 1950. "The North American Birds of George Edwards" Journal for the Society of the History of Natural History 2. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press