Frank Finn FZS, MBOU (1868 – 1 October 1932) 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 ...

. Finn was born in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

and educated at

Maidstone Grammar School Maidstone Grammar School (MGS) is a grammar school in Maidstone, England. The school was founded in 1549 after Protector Somerset sold Corpus Christi Hall on behalf of King Edward VI to the people of Maidstone for £200. The Royal Charter fo ...

and

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

. He went on a collecting expedition to

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

in 1892, and became First Assistant Superintendent of the

Indian Museum The Indian Museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, also referred to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in colonial-era texts, is the ninth oldest museum in the world, the oldest and largest museum in India as well as in Asia. It has rare ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in 1894, and Deputy Superintendent from 1895 to 1903. He then returned to England, and was editor of the '' Avicultural Magazine'' in 1909–10. Finn was a prolific author, his works including ''Garden and Aviary Birds of India'', ''How to Know the Indian Ducks'' (1901), ''The Birds of Calcutta'' (1901), ''How to Know the Indian Waders'' (1906), ''Ornithological and other Oddities'' (1907), ''The Making of Species'' (1909, with

Douglas Dewar Douglas Dewar (28 May 1875 – 13 January 1957) was a barrister, British civil servant in India, and ornithologist who wrote several books about Indian birds. He wrote widely in newspapers such as ''The Madras Mail'', ''Pioneer'', ''Times of India'' ...

), ''Eggs and Nests of British Birds'' (1910) and ''Indian Sporting Birds'' (1915). He also edited Robert A. Sterndale's

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

on the mammals of India and Ceylon and brought out a new and abridged edition titled ''Sterndale's Mammalia of India'' (1929), which included an appendix on reptiles. The weaver bird ''

Ploceus megarhynchus Finn's weaver (''Ploceus megarhynchus''), also known as Finn's baya and yellow weaver is a weaver bird species native to the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys in India and Nepal. Two subspecies are known; the nominate subspecies occurs in the Kumaon ...

'' was originally described from a specimen collected by A. O. Hume from Kaladhungi near

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

in 1869. It was rediscovered near Calcutta by Finn, and

E. C. Stuart Baker Edward Charles Stuart Baker CIE OBE FZS FLS (1864 – 16 April 1944) was a British ornithologist and police officer. He catalogued the birds of India and produced the second edition of the ''Fauna of British India'' which included the introd ...

called it Finn's Weaver in the second edition of the ''

Fauna of British India Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

'' (1925). Finn also described three new species of

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

in collaboration with

British 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, ...

naturalist

Alfred William Alcock Alfred William Alcock (23 June 1859 in Bombay – 24 March 1933 in Belvedere, Kent) was a British physician, naturalist, and carcinologist. Early life and education Alcock was the son of a sea-captain, John Alcock in Bombay, India who re ...

."Finn". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. Finn was editor of ''

The Zoologist ''The Zoologist'' was a monthly natural history magazine established in 1843 by Edward Newman and published in London. Newman acted as editor-in-chief until his death in 1876, when he was succeeded, first by James Edmund Harting (1876–1896) ...

'' during the last two years of its existence, from 1915 to 1916.''The Zoologist,'' fourth series, vol. 19 (1915)''The Zoologist,'' fourth series, vol. 20 (1916)

Notes

References

* Mullens and Swann - A Bibliography of British Ornithology (1917)

External links

* * *
''The Birds of Calcutta'' (1904)

''How to Know the Indian Waders'' (1906)

''Ornithological and other Oddities'' (1907)

''The World's Birds'' (1908)

''The Waterfowl of India'' (1909)

''Talks about Birds'' (1911)

''The Gamebirds of India'' (1911)

Wild animals of yesterday & to-day
(1913)]
''Garden and Aviary Birds of India'' (1915)

''Bird Behaviour: Psychical and Physiological'' (1919)

''Familiar London Birds'' (1922)
* iarchive:mammaliaofindia033244mbp, ''Sterndale's Mammalia of India'' (1929)
''Indian Sporting Birds'' (1935)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finn, Frank 1868 births 1932 deaths People from Maidstone Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford English ornithologists Members of British Ornithologists' Union Fellows of the Zoological Society of London People educated at Maidstone Grammar School