Bernard William Tucker ( - ) was an English

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

. He was lecturer in

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, a long-time editor of British Birds and one of the authors of '' The Handbook of British Birds''. He was the first Secretary of the

British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginnings In 1931 Max Nicholson wrote: In the United State ...

(BTO) and founder of the

Oxford Ornithological Society Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

in 1921. Tucker was born at

Northaw Northaw is a village in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Northaw and Cuffley (where at the 2011 Census the population was included), which was originally known as Northaw. The parish had ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

to William and Constance Susan Tucker and was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, gaining first class honours in 1923. He took an interest in birds even as a young boy. He spent 1924 at the Zoological Gardens in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

investigating parasitism in

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s. In 1925 he was appointed Demonstrator in the Zoological Laboratory, Cambridge. In 1926 he became Demonstrator in Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at Oxford University. In 1946 he became the first person to be appointed as a reader in ornithology in a British University. Tucker along with

Max Nicholson Edward Max Nicholson (12 July 1904 – 26 April 2003) was a pioneering environmentalist, ornithologist and internationalist, and a founder of the World Wildlife Fund. Early life Max Nicholson, as he was known to all, was born in Kilternan, Ir ...

played a key role in leading the collaborative Oxford Bird Census in 1927. According to the Nicholson and J D Witherby in their obituary, Tucker was ''the least dramatic of men, but he did much to bring about a revolution in ornithology and to guard it against the reaction which awaits a revolution if it goes too far and too fast.'' During his stint in Naples he met Gladys Allen whom he married on 11 July 1925. A subspecies of the

Bornean treepie The Bornean treepie (''Dendrocitta cinerascens'') is a passerine bird belonging to the treepies genus, ''Dendrocitta'', of in the crow family, Corvidae. It is endemic to the island of Borneo. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the Sumatra ...

was named after him as '' Dendrocitta sinensis tuckeri'' by

Tom Harrisson Major (United Kingdom), Major Tom Harnett Harrisson, DSO OBE (26 September 1911 – 16 January 1976) was a British polymath. In the course of his life he was an ornithologist, explorer, journalist, broadcaster, soldier, guerrilla, ethnologist, mu ...

and C.H. Hartley in 1934 but this is no longer considered a valid subspecies. The BTO awards a ''

Bernard Tucker Medal The Bernard Tucker Medal is awarded by the British Trust for Ornithology for services to ornithology. It is named in memory of Bernard Tucker, their first Secretary. It has been awarded since 1954, usually annually although there are some years ...

'' in his memory.

References

1901 births 1950 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People from Northaw English ornithologists Academics of the University of Cambridge British Trust for Ornithology people 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-ornithologist-stub