George Ord

For his father, the sea captain, see George Ord Sr.
George Ord
Born(1781-03-04)March 4, 1781
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
DiedJanuary 24, 1866(1866-01-24) (aged 84)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Resting placeGloria Dei Church cemetery
Scientific career
Fieldsnaturalist, ornithologist

George Ord, Jr. (March 4, 1781 – January 24, 1866) was an American zoologist who specialized in North American ornithology and mammalogy.[1][2] Based in part on specimens collected by Lewis and Clark in the North American interior, Ord's article "Zoology of North America" (1815), which was published in the second American edition of William Guthrie's Geographical, Historical, and Commercial Grammar (Johnson and Warner),[3] has been recognized as the "first systematic zoology of America by an American".[4]

Ord (1815) published the first scientific descriptions of Pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana), Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), Meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), Bushy-tailed woodrat (Neotoma cinerea), Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis pennsylvanicus), Columbian ground squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus), black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), Bonaparte's gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia), ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis), Tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus), and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus).[4]

Ord is widely known for challenging the works of John James Audubon.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ Rhoads, Samuel N. (1908). George Ord. pp. 1–8.
  2. ^ "George Ord Collection". American Philosophical Society.
  3. ^ Guthrie, William; Ferguson, James; Guthrie, William; Knox, John (1815). A new geographical, historical, and commercial grammar : and present state of the several kingdoms of the world ... : to which are added, 1. a geographical index, with the names of places alphabetically arranged. 2. A chronological table of remarkable event. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Published by Johnson and Warner and for sale ... in Philadelphia and Richmond, Virginia. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.60827.
  4. ^ a b Ord, George; Guthrie, William; Rhoads, Samuel N. (1894). A reprint of the North American zoology, by George Ord. Being an exact reproduction of the part originally compiled by Mr. Ord for Johnson & Warner, and first published by them in their 2d American ed. of Guthrie's geography, in 1815. Taken. Haddonsfield, N.J.: Pub. by the editor.
  5. ^ Halley, Matthew R. (June 2020). "Audubon's Bird of Washington: unravelling the fraud that launched The birds of America". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 140 (2): 110–141. doi:10.25226/bboc.v140i2.2020.a3. ISSN 0007-1595.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).