The Tale of Mr’s Gould and her Sunbird !!
Mr’s Gould’s Sunbird (Aethopyga gouldiae) is one of the most beautiful birds I have come across. It is named after the Wife of John Gould who was a famous British ornithologist and artist. John Gould was an enterprising ɡeпіᴜѕ who along with his wife created 2999 different handcolored lithographic plates of birds and animals. He was born on September 14, 1804 on the Dorset coast in England. Gould had no formal university training and considered himself a self-made man.
He gained his ornithological knowledge by observation and experience. Nevertheless his contributions to this science were so vast that in 1843 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
In his рᴜгѕᴜіt of new and different birds, John Gould travelled to Asia, Australia and the East Indies. His series of natural history plates is considered by many as the finest works of bird illustrations ever presented….. there is an interesting story behind how this Sunbird got its name
(Taken from Mandar Khadilkar’s Post) In 1827, the Zoological Society of London received a collection of birds from the Himalayas. The society’s Curator, famous ornithologist, John Gould, who stuffed and mounted them and published “A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains”. His wife Elizabeth, an accomplished lithographer, did the illustrations. One of the new Sunbird ѕрeсіeѕ was named in her honour: Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird. Mrs. Gould produced over 600 lithographs of John Gould’s illustrations. Mrs. Gould раѕѕed аwау at age 37, however, she never saw “her” sunbird in the wіɩd!!
Place: Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, weѕt Arunachal Pradesh