Charles Dixon (ornithologist)
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Charles Dixon (1858 – 17 June 1926) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
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 ...
, born in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. He discovered the
St Kilda wren The St Kilda wren (''Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis'') is a small passerine bird in the wren family. It is a distinctive subspecies of the Eurasian wren endemic to the islands of the isolated St Kilda archipelago, in the Atlantic Ocean wes ...
and a new species in North Africa. He collaborated with
Henry Seebohm Henry Seebohm (12 July 1832 – 26 November 1895) was an English steel manufacturer, and amateur ornithologist, oologist and traveller. Biography Henry was the oldest son of Benjamin Seebohm (1798–1871) who was a wool merchant at Horton Gra ...
on his great work on ''British Birds'', in the second volume of which he summarized and modified A. R. Wallace's theory of the relation between nests and coloration of birds. Elliott Coues wrote in the preface to the American edition of Dixon's book "Rural bird life" pointing out the originality of the observations made from the field and
Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. ...
noted Dixon for recognizing the value of prismatic binoculars for bird study. In his later years, he wrote in the newspapers on agricultural fairs and horse shows.


Biography

Little is known of Dixon's early life. Dixon's early studies on ornithology were followed by numerous books. He did not believe in the role of
natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...
in evolution and in his ''Evolution without Natural Selection'' (1885) he used examples of adaptations that were apparently of little survival value to illustrate his position. Reviewers were quick to point out that natural selection essentially works on adaptations that do have a survival value. He also argued that Darwin was mistaken to conclude that ornate male plumages evolved due to female selection. Dixon made a special study of
bird migration Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...
— especially in his 1892 book ''The Migration of Birds'' (new edition, 1897), an ingenious theoretical work — and of geographical distribution of birds. Dixon changed his ideas drastically between the two editions of his book on migration. In the 1892 edition he supported the idea that birds moved out of unfavourable environmental conditions but in the 1897 edition he suggested that migration is essentially derived from dispersal and range extension of birds. He believed that glaciation in former times could not have induced migration on its own and that southward migration was because of a former mass of tropical land that stretched around the equator. Reviewers did not think of his theories as being well-founded. Julian Huxley recognized him for noting the potential of prismatic binoculars to unravel the life of living birds. He also published behavioural observations on birds and often incorporated these in his books. He recognized the threats to birds posed by human activity and was an early conservationist. He was quite opposed to the ideas of
acclimatisation Acclimatization or acclimatisation ( also called acclimation or acclimatation) is the process in which an individual organism adjusts to a change in its environment (such as a change in altitude, temperature, humidity, photoperiod, or pH), a ...
and recognized the problem of introduction of species into Australia and New Zealand and their effects, especially on flightless birds. He expressed his conservation ethic thus:


Publications

Of his many books, the following may be mentioned: *
Rural Bird Life
' (1880) *
Evolution without Natural Selection
' (1885) *
Our Rarer Birds
' (1888). *
Stray feathers from many birds: being leaves from a naturalist's note-book
' (1890). *
Annals of bird life : a year-book of British ornithology
' (1890). *
The Birds of our Rambles
' (1891). *
The Migration of Birds
'' (1892). *
Jottings about Birds
' (1893). *
The Nests and Eggs of British Birds
' (1893; illustrated, 1894) *
British Sea Birds
' (1896).
''Our favourite song birds''
(1897) * ''Curiosities of bird life'' (1897) *
Lost and Vanishing Birds
' (1898). *
Game Birds and Wild Fowl of the British Islands
' (1899). *
Bird-life in a Southern County
' (1899). *
The Story of the Birds
' (1900). *
Among the birds in Northern Shires
' (1900) *
Birds' Nests
' (1902). * ''Open Air Studies in Bird Life: Sketches of British Birds in Their Haunts'' (1903). *
The Bird Life of London
' (1909) In later life he took an interest in agricultural and horse shows, especially the Richmond horse show. He died of a heart attack at his home in Harlesden in 1926. Seebohm named the long-tailed thrush ''Zoothera dixoni'' (originally in the genus ''Geocichla'').


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Charles Dixon (ornithologist), Charles Dixon (ornithologist), Charles Dixon (ornithologist), Charles Dixon (ornithologist), Charles Dixon (ornithologist), Charles Non-Darwinian evolution 19th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century British non-fiction writers