James Lee Peters (August 13, 1889 – April 19, 1952) was an American

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 born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. Austin Peters and Francis Howie Lee on August 13, 1889. His early education was at the Roxbury Latin School, followed by his acceptance to Harvard University, where he graduated in 1912. Peters interest in natural history developed early. His early collecting trips included traveling with Arthur Cleveland Bent, Charles Haskins Townsend and H.K. Job to the Magdalen Islands. Three of Peters early mentors were Charles Johnson Maynard, judge

Charles Jenney Charles Francis Jenney (1860–1923) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. He served most notably as justice of the Massachusetts state supreme court from 1919 until 1923. Biography Charles Francis Jenney was born in ...

and Outram Bangs.Wetmore, A. " In Memoriam: James Lee Peters" The Auk. Vol. 74. No. 2, April 1957 Ultimately, Peters was Curator of Birds at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard University. He served as president of the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

in 1942–45, and also served as president of

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

for a period. Peters is best known for his multi-volume ''Check-list of Birds of the World'' (1931–52), widely referred to simply as the ''Peters' check-list''. Compared to earlier check-lists written by Richard Bowdler Sharpe, the list by Peters made several significant advances, among others using

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

( trinomial nomenclature), which Bowdler's had not. For the first four volumes Peters was awarded the Brewster Medal. Peters died before finishing the work, and the last volumes, as well as updates to some of the first, were completed by

Ernst Mayr Ernst Walter Mayr (; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher o ...

, James Greenway,

Melvin Alvah Traylor, Jr. Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. (December 16, 1915 – February 11, 2008) was an American ornithologist. He was the son of Chicago banker Melvin Alvah Traylor and Mrs. Dorothy Y. Traylor. Traylor was Lieutenant with the marines and served on Guadalcanal ...

and others, with the final being volume 16 published in 1987. This check-list has been highly influential in ornithology, and has – either directly or indirectly – been used as a basis for numerous modern check-lists such as ''

The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

'' by James Clements, ''

The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World The ''Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World'' is a book by Richard Howard and Alick Moore which presents a list of the bird species of the world. It was the first single-volume world bird list to include subspecies names, ...

'' edited by Edward C. Dickinson, ''Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World'' by Charles Sibley and

Burt Monroe Burt Leavelle Monroe, Jr. (25 August 1930 – 14 May 1994, in Louisville, Kentucky) was an American ornithologist, a professor at the University of Louisville, a member of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) beginning in 1953. Among his major ...

, the ''AOU Checklist of North American Birds'' by AOU, and the check-list to birds of South America by SACC.

References

* Clements, J. 2007. ''The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World'' 6th edition. Christopher Helm. . * Remsen, J. V., Jr., C. D. Cadena, A. Jaramillo, M. Nores, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, T. S. Schulenberg, F. G. Stiles, D. F. Stotz, and K. J. Zimmer. 2007.
A classification of the bird species of South America.
' American Ornithologists' Union. * Sibley, C., and B. Monroe. 1991. ''Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World.'' Yale University Press. *

External links

Check-list of Birds of the World – Online
1889 births 1952 deaths Harvard University alumni American ornithologists American people of Dutch descent Roxbury Latin School alumni Scientists from Boston 20th-century American zoologists {{US-ornithologist-stub