 Title page of first edition | |
| Author | George Montagu |
|---|---|
| Subject | Ornithology |
| Genre | Natural history |
| Publisher | J. White |
Publication date | 1802 |
| Publication place | Great Britain |
| Pages | 717 (two volumes) |
The Ornithological Dictionary; or Alphabetical Synopsis of British Birds was written by the English naturalist and army officer George Montagu, and first published by J. White of Fleet Street, London in 1802.
It was one of the texts, along with Thomas Bewick's contemporaneous A History of British Birds (2 volumes, 1797 and 1804) that made ornithology popular in Britain, and, with the 1676 Ornithologia libri tres of Francis Willughby and John Ray, helped to make it the object of serious study. The book includes a description of the cirl bunting, discovered by Montagu in 1800 near his home in Kingsbridge, Devon.[1]
The first edition was admired by biologists including Charles Darwin and David Lack.
A second edition, extensively revised by James Rennie in 1831, was panned by scientific critics.
- ^ Cocker and Mabey, 2005. pp. 462–463