Baron Nöel Frédéric Armand André de Lafresnaye (24 July 1783 – 14 July 1861) was a French ornithologist and collector. Lafresnaye was born into an aristocratic family at Chateau de La Fresnaye in Falaise, Normandy. He took an early interest in

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, particularly

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. It was only after acquiring a collection of European birds that he turned his attention to ornithology. Lafresnaye described a number of new bird species, some with

Alcide d'Orbigny Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropol ...

. He accumulated a collection of over 8,000 bird skins at his home. After his death the collection was purchased by the American collector Henry Bryant and donated to the Boston Natural History Society. It was transferred to the Museum of Comparative Zoology in 1914. Lafresnaye's piculet, Lafresnaye's woodcreeper and Lafresnaye's vanga are avian species that bear his name.

Selected works

* ''Contributions à l'ornithologie'', 1832 - Contributions to ornithology. * ''Catalogue des oiseaux de la collection de feu Mr. le bon. de Lafresnaye de Falaise'', 1833 - Catalog of birds from the collection of Lafresnaye. * ''Essai d'une nouvelle manière de grouper les genres et les espèces de l'ordre des passereaux (Passeres L.) d'après leurs rapports de moeurs et d'habitation'', 1838 - Essay on a new method of grouping the genera and species of the order Passeriformes, etc. * ''Monographie du genre Dendrocolaptes'', 1849 - Monograph on the genus Dendrocolaptes. * ''Sur quelques espèces d'oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus du Chili et de la Colombie'', 1855 - On some new, little known avian species of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

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(publications)

References

1783 births 1861 deaths People from Falaise, Calvados 19th-century French zoologists French ornithologists {{Ornithologist-stub