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Banded Martin
The banded martin or banded sand martin (''Neophedina cincta'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae that is endemic to Africa. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Neophedina''. Taxonomy The banded martin was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his '' Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name ''Hirundo cincta'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. The banded martin was formerly placed in the genus ''Riparia''. A genetic study found that it belonged to a dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austin Roberts (zoologist)
Austin Roberts (3 January 1883 – 5 May 1948) was a South African zoologist. He is best known for his ''Birds of South Africa'', first published in 1940. He also studied the mammalian fauna of the region: his work ''The mammals of South Africa'' was published posthumously in 1951. The 7th edition of ''Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa'' which appeared in 2005, is the standard work on the region's birds. Biography Roberts, son of Alfred Roberts (church minister) and Marianne Fannin (naturalist and flower artist), was born in Pretoria and grew up in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He gained much of his early knowledge of zoology from Thomas Ayres (1828–1913), one of South Africa's first amateur ornithologists. Ayres taught Roberts to skin birds and small mammals as well as the importance of keeping accurate records on every specimen. He also encouraged Roberts to study birds systematically. Roberts worked as a clerk in the Potchefstroom branch of Standard Bank from 1901 to 1903 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |