James Ellsworth De Kay (alternatively spelled DeKay or Dekay) (October 12, 1792 – November 21, 1851) was an American zoologist.
Biography
![De Kay and Hill 1844 Plate 011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_011.jpg)
James De Kay was born in
Lisbon, Portugal, in 1792. When he was two years old, his family moved to
New York; both his parents died while he was still quite young. He attended
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
from 1807 to 1812, but was expelled before completing his degree when he threatened a college tutor with a club. Later, he studied medicine at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, receiving his
MD in 1819.
![De Kay and Hill 1844 Plate 074](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_074.jpg)
After his return to the United States, he married Janet Eckford, a daughter of
Henry Eckford, a ship builder. He then traveled with his father-in-law to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
as a ship's physician, and published a book, ''Sketches of Turkey in 1831 and 1832,'' about these travels. Although well received as an entertaining
travelogue
Travelogue may refer to:
Genres
* Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling
* Travel documentary
A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or ...
, his book has been criticized as being very anti-Hellenic as well as sometimes naive about Turkish customs. He was entrusted by Eckford with negotiations with
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and other
South American
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
powers, relative to the ships of war that had been ordered by the latter. In 1830, he was elected into the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
as an honorary academician.
In 1833 his brother,
George Coleman De Kay, married the only daughter of the poet
Joseph Rodman Drake, and De Kay became familiar with Drake,
Fitz-Greene Halleck
Fitz-Greene Halleck (July 8, 1790 – November 19, 1867) was an American poet and member of the Knickerbocker Group. Born and raised in Guilford, Connecticut, he went to New York City at the age of 20, and lived and worked there for nearly fo ...
,
William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...
, and other men of literature and science.
De Kay returned to
Oyster Bay, New York
The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shore ...
, giving up medicine for the study of
natural history. On the outbreak of
cholera in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, De Kay hastened to give his services to the afflicted, although the practice of his profession was repugnant to him. He became involved with the Geological Survey of New York, initiated in 1835. As a result, from 1842 to 1844 he published the multi-volume ''Zoology of New York, or The New-York Fauna'' covering: mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians and fish. This work was illustrated by the British born American painter
John William Hill
John William Hill or often J.W. Hill (January 13, 1812 – September 24, 1879) was a British-born American artist working in watercolor, gouache, lithography, and engraving. Hill's work focused primarily upon natural subjects including landscape ...
. Hill and De Kay spent much time in the field. By the end of April 1839, they had provided full descriptions and drawings for 700 of the nearly 2,300 animals they estimated to exist in New York, and begun rough descriptions of many more. In order to best represent the animals, Hill and De Kay early on decided to use a
camera lucida
A ''camera lucida'' is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists and microscopists.
The ''camera lucida'' performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist s ...
for the rough drafts of the drawings. Hill's drawings of birds for De Kay's ''Zoology of New York'' were significant in that they represented the first time hand-colored lithographs were used to illustrate a state bird book.
De Kay collected the first specimen of a species of small brown snake on
Long Island, which was named for him as ''
Storeria dekayi'' (
Holbrook Holbrook may refer to:
Places
England
*Holbrook, Derbyshire, a village
* Holbrook, Somerset, a hamlet in Charlton Musgrove
* Holbrook, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, a former mining village in Mosborough ward, now known as Halfway
*Holbrook, Suffolk, ...
, 1836). De Kay died at Oyster Bay in 1851.
[Wilson and Fiske.]
Historical species named after him include ''
Dipleura dekayi'', ''
Eurypterus dekayi
''Eurypterus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of eurypterid, a group of organisms commonly called "sea scorpions". The genus lived during the Silurian period, from around 432 to 418 million years ago. ''Eurypterus'' is by far the most well-studied and ...
'', ''
Eutrephoceras dekayi'', ''
Mosasaurus dekayi'', and ''
Trimerus dekayi''.
Gallery
Images from ''Zoology of New York'', Part II, Birds
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_002.jpg, "Plate II. Fig. 3. The Rough-legged Buzzard
The rough-legged buzzard or rough-legged hawk (''Buteo lagopus'') is a medium-large bird of prey. It is found in Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Russia during the breeding season and migrates south for the winter. It ...
(Buteo sancti-joannis). 4, 5. The American Goshawk (Astur atricapillus)."
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_018.jpg, Plate XVIII
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_037.jpg, Plate XXXVII, hermit thrush
The hermit thrush (''Catharus guttatus'') is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of ''Catharus'', but rather to the Mexican russet nightingale-thrush. The specific na ...
above, and "Northern Butcher-bird" (likely not a true butcherbird, but a shrike below
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_061.jpg, Plate LXI
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_064.jpg, Plate LXIV
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_076.jpg, Plate LXXVI
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_081.jpg, Plate LXXXI
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_082.jpg, Plate LXXXII
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_113.jpg, Plate CXIII
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_130.jpg, Plate CXXX
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_137.jpg, "Plate CXXXVII Fig. 299. The Great Loon (Colymbus glacialis).
300. The Red-throated Loon
The red-throated loon (North America) or red-throated diver (Britain and Ireland) (''Gavia stellata'') is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family, it breeds prim ...
(Colymbus septentrionalis)."
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_138.jpg, Plate CXXXIV, Atlantic puffin left, and little auk
The little auk or dovekie (''Alle alle'') is a small auk, the only member of the genus ''Alle''. ''Alle'' is the Sami name of the long-tailed duck; it is onomatopoeic and imitates the call of the drake duck. Linnaeus was not particularly fam ...
right
File: De_Kay_and_Hill_1844_Plate_141.jpg, Plate CXLI, red-necked grebe
The red-necked grebe (''Podiceps grisegena'') is a migratory aquatic bird found in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Its wintering habitat is largely restricted to calm waters just beyond the waves around ocean coasts, although ...
left, and dipper
Dippers are members of the genus ''Cinclus'' in the bird family Cinclidae, so-called because of their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Cinclus'' ...
right
Images from ''Zoology of New York'', Part V, Mollusca and Part VI, Crustacea
File:De_Kay_and_Hill_Mollusca_Plate_13.jpg, Mollusca Plate 13
File:De_Kay_and_Hill_Mollusca_Plate_18.jpg, Mollusca Plate 18
File:De_Kay_and_Hill_Mollusca_Plate_20.jpg, Mollusca Plate 20
File:De_Kay_and_Hill_Mollusca_Plate_53.jpg, Mollusca Plate 53
File:De_Kay_and_Hill_Crustacea_Plate_13.jpg, Crustacea Plate 13
See also
*
:Taxa named by James Ellsworth De Kay
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Aldrich, Michele L., “New York State Natural History Survey 1836-1842, A Chapter in the History of American Science”. Paleontological Research Institution, 2000. New York.
* De Kay, James Ellsworth (“Anonymous”). “Sketches of Turkey in 1831 and 1832, by An American”. J. & J. Harper, 1833. New York.
* De Kay, James Ellsworth and Hill, J. W. (illustrator) ''Zoology of New York, or the New-York Fauna'', Part II, Birds. J. F. Schreiber, 1844.
* Gratacap, L.P. “Formative Museum Period,” ''Science, A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Advancement of Science, Publishing the Official Notes and Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.'' New Series. Volume XIV. No 344. (August 2, 1901). p. 168-176.
*
Fairfield, Sumner Lincoln (editor) and A.C.D (author otherwise unidentified). “The Greeks and the Turks,” The North American Magazine.” New Series. Vol. III, No. XIV. (December 1833). p. 73-80.
* Wilson, James Grant and Fiske, John. “Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography, Vol. 2”. D. Appleton and Company, 1887. New York.
* Ze'evi, Dror. “Producing Desire: Changing Sexual Discourse in the Ottoman Middle East, 1500-1900”. University of California Press, 2006.
External links
Bird Images: De Kay, James E. & Hill, J.W.High resolution, scanned images of all 141 plates from Zoology, Part 2 (Birds) at Old Book Art. Public Domain.
*
*
* De Kay, James E
Zoology of New York, or the New-York Fauna; comprising detailed descriptions of all the animals...This work was published from 1842-1844 as part of the series ''Natural History of New-York'', which was commissioned in 1836 by the New York State legislature to provide for a geological and natural history survey of New York State. It addressed both recent and fossil mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, mollusks and crustaceans. The
New York State Library has digitized the entire five-volume set, including hand-colored plates from part 1 (Mammalia), part 2 (Birds) and part 5 (Mollusca and Crustacea).
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Kay, James Ellsworth
1792 births
1851 deaths
American zoologists
Yale University alumni
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh