A Himalayan Ornithologist

Our present-day knowledge of the birds of the Himalayan region can be traced back to the pioneering work of Brian Houghton Hodgson who was a 19th century naturalist, scholar and administrator. Born in Cheshire in 1800, Hodgson was resident in Kathmandu for many years and he described or collected over 120 species of birds new to science. He trained a team of Nepalese artists to produce water-colour plates of the birds of the Himalayas; this was never completed, but the collection of paintings is now in the possession of the Zoological Society of London. Most of the 49 plates selected for this volume have never been published before. While concentrating primarily upon Hodgson's ornithological work, this book also describes his contributions to other branches of natural history and ethnography, as well as his work on the nature of the Buddhist religion. His administrative career is also outlined and there is a chapter describing the changes to the bird life of the region since Hodgson 's time.