Edgar Percival Chance (1881–1955) was a British businessman,
ornithologist and
oologist who amassed a collection of 25,000
birds' eggs
Bird eggs are laid by the females and range in quantity from one (as in condors) to up to seventeen (the grey partridge). Clutch size may vary latitudinally within a species. Some birds lay eggs even when the eggs have not been fertilized; it is ...
. He is noted for his pioneering studies on the
parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
breeding behaviour of the
common cuckoo
The common cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.
This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. I ...
(''Cuculus canorus'').
Life
Chance was born at
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
, in the city of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, the son of Alexander Macomb Chance and Florence Mercer.
He was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
. He was a wealthy businessman and industrialist who managed the family chemicals business,
Chance and Hunt
Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology.
The Chance f ...
, based in
Oldbury, West Midlands, which provided chemicals to Chance Brothers, the famous
glassmakers based in
Smethwick, Birmingham, between the first and second world wars. He was an egg-collector who became fascinated by
cuckoo
Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...
s and made intensive studies of the common cuckoo, in the course of which he wrote two books about the species as well as producing a film. The film, ''The Cuckoo's Secret'', was shot at
Pound Green Common in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
, showing for the first time that female cuckoos lay their eggs directly into the nests of their hosts, rather than laying them on the ground and placing them in the nests with their bills as was previously widely believed. He also achieved a world record for collecting the most eggs – 25 – from a single female cuckoo in the course of one breeding season (1922).
Chance was a member of the
British Ornithologists' Union – from which his egg collecting eventually resulted in his expulsion
[BBC ]Natural world
''Natural World'' is a strand of British wildlife documentary programmes broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history series. It is the longest-running documentary in its genre on British televis ...
, 'Cuckoo' – and served on the Council of the
British Oological Association. He named his daughter Cardamine, alluding to the scientific name of the cuckoo flower ''
Cardamine pratensis
''Cardamine pratensis'', the cuckoo flower, lady's smock, mayflower, or milkmaids, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is a perennial herb native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia. The specific name ''pratensis'' is Latin ...
''.
Professor
Nick Davies
Nicholas Davies (born 28 March 1953) is an award-winning British investigative journalist, writer, and documentary maker.
Davies has written extensively as a freelancer, as well as for ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', and been named R ...
of
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
has described Chance as one of his all time heroes and featured Chance's contribution to science in his book ''Cuckoo''.
Chance's large egg collection, which includes the eggs of the cuckoo filmed at Pound Green Common, is held at the
Natural History Museum at Tring
The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild; today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum, London. It houses one of the finest collecti ...
.
Chance died at his home, age 74, on 24 October 1955.
Family
Chance's fraternal grandmother was Cornelia de Peyster, whose ancestors were
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
settlers in
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...
and
Loyalist to the Crown.
[Howard, Joseph Jackson. ''Visitation of England and Wales'', Volume 3. Great Britain, 1895, pages 63,71]
Edgar Chance's elder brother
Kenneth Macomb Chance,
Sheriff of Warwickshire
This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Warwickshire.
The High Sheriff, Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the c ...
in 1948 and founder of
British Industrial Plastics
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, was also a keen egg-collector, forming between 1925 and 1938 a complete collection of Warwickshire birds' eggs which is now in the possession of his grandson.
Publications
Books
* 1922 – ''The Cuckoo's Secret''. Sidgwick and Jackson: London.
* 1940 – ''The Truth About the Cuckoo''. Country Life: London.
Articles
Among Chance's many articles in the ornithological literature are:
*
** "abbreviated from an article on the same subject which appeared in
Country Life for October 26th, 1918, pp. 354-5."
*
*
*
*
Films
* 1922 – ''Secrets of Nature: The Cuckoo's Secret''. Producer: Edgar Chance. Director of Photography:
Oliver Pike. Released by British Instructional Films (BIF). 'The Cuckoo's Secret' is available on the
BFI
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
DVD 'Secrets of Nature',
released in 2010.
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
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External links
*
*
The Cuckoo's Secret (1922)Online film footage by ChanceBBC Natural World 'Cuckoo'nbsp;– information on the episode featuring Chance's footage and a modern reconstruction of his field activities.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chance, Edgar Percival
1881 births
1955 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
British ornithologists
British ornithological writers
British film producers
People from Edgbaston
Egg collectors
British people of Dutch descent
Schuyler family
20th-century British zoologists