Published Resources Details
Journal Article
- Title
- John Gould's foremost successor in Australia: A. J. Campbell's travels in search of birds, their nests and eggs, and his contributions to ornithological knowledge
- In
- The Victorian naturalist
- Imprint
- vol. 138, no. 1, 2021, pp. 4-29
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.765610174188971
- Subject
- History of Natural Sciences Biological Sciences
- Abstract
Archibald James Campbell (1853-1929) was a remarkable Australian-born ornithologist, who made notable contributions to knowledge about the breeding of birds (egg characteristics; nest morphology; clutch size) in five colonies of Australia. Much of this information was acquired by self-funded travel. In 1900/1901 he published a definitive synthesis about the nests and eggs of Australian birds, financing this project by means of advance subscription. Campbell was also an effective communicator to the general public through his numerous articles published in newspapers, especially 'The Australasian'. He published nearly 180 journal articles, principally in 'The Victorian Naturalist' and 'The Emu'.
Campbell described 34 bird species new to science. Only three are currently accepted as full species, with 14 now regarded as valid subspecies. Photography of birds was initiated in Australia by Campbell in 1889 on his visit to Western Australia, resulting in the first photos of a nest of a landbird, a nest with eggs of a landbird, and nesting seabird species. Among his legacy are several thousand historical photographs, held in Australian museums and libraries, and an early collection of eggs of many Australian bird species.
Campbell also brought to attention differences in clutch size and morphology between mainland and island bird populations of the same species, as well as biogeographical differences between mainland and island avifaunas. These observations were not further developed by him but did foreshadow important themes of island ecological studies.
In his early life Campbell, like most males of his era, engaged in egg collecting and shooting wildlife for 'sport', including the Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae. By the 1880s, he had become a strong advocate for nature conservation (which he termed bird protection). Later in this decade he became interested in developing, with others, a list of vernacular names of Australian birds. Campbell facilitated and supported the study of birds by others, primarily through his publications and by co-founding and co-editing Australia's first ornithological journal, 'The Emu', in 1901.
Campbell's criticisms of EP Ramsay and AJ North of the Australian Museum (in Sydney) were caused by their failing to acknowledge Campbell's and other ornithologists' publications and descriptions of species new to science. This failure to accord priority to Campbell for information and discovery should be viewed (at best) as a breach of scholarly norms or (at worst) as professional misconduct.- Source
- cohn 2021