[Susan Manchester]

OK, here I go again. I have found at least seven bird species or subspecies that have the specific epithet herberti. Why can I not find any information on him. On one of the species, Thryothorus or Pheugopedius coraya herberti, I found something that said it was collected by Clarence B. Riker in Diamantina, Brazil, and named for Herbert A. Riker. I cannot find anything on these two. I also found out that Phylloscopus herberti was named by Boyd Alexander in 1903, and Campethera nivosa herberti in 1908, for his brother Herbert. The other species or subspecies are Alauda gulgula herberti and Alauda arvensis herberti, named by Ernst Hartert in 1923, Prinia inornata herberti, named by Edward Charles Stuart Baker in 1918 and Harpactes ardens herberti, named by Kenneth C. Parkes in 1970.

[Richard Klim]

Susan, I know you have Jobling 2010, so I won't repeat his entry for herberti.

But this from Beolens & Watkins 2003 (Whose Bird?)...

HERBERT

Herbert's Babbler Stachyris herberti (E C S Baker 1920)
Herbert's Woodland Warbler Phylloscopus herberti (Boyd Alexander 1903)

E G Herbert (1870–1951) was an English collector and naturalist. He wrote an article on Nests and eggs of birds in Central Siam in the Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam, in 1926.

[GMK]

Alauda gulgula herberti, Hartert, and Stachyris herberti (E C S Baker) are both explicitly stated to have been named for E. G. Herbert by their describers, on account of Herbert taking the types. Same is indirectly true for Prinia inornata herberti, described by Baker from specimens in the "Herbert Coll." at BMNH. So, all these three were named for the same person.

There is no Alauda arvensis herberti, of course, at least not now that gulgula and arvensis are recognised as separate species. Hartert described it as a subspecies of arvensis, but he already realised that it was part of the gulgula complex of taxa.

Richard has pointed to, without being cruel enough to spell it out, an error in Beolens & Watkins, to whit Alexander's Phylloscopus was named for his brother, not E. G. Herbert.

Clarence Riker, himself, has his own species named for him, that marvellous furnariid, Berlepschia rikeri! (see http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/i...e/537/mode/1up).

[mb1848]

Another interesting subject, Susan. Thanks to Guy for the link to the original description of what used to be known as Riker’s Woodhewer.

Herbert A. Riker had settled on a plantation along the Amazon after the Civil War. The Smithsonian sent collectors out to his plantation.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Jl0...ker%22&f=false .


“At the breaking out of the Civil War in the United States, my father, Robert H. Riker, resided in Charleston, South Carolina, with his family. He being a native of that state, was employed at Fort Sumter, Charleston, during the war. After the war, things being in bad condition generally, he came out here to Santarem, bringing his family. That was in 1867. He selected Diamantino…” The brothers were David B. Riker and Herbert A. Riker.
There is a book in Portuguese : Confederados em Santarém:
saga americana na Amazônia. It mentions Clarence B. Riker.



Clarence Bayley Riker is a descendant of the New York Riker family. Rikers Island is named for them. He was later president of the New Jersey Audubon Society.

Clarence B. Riker, born in 1863. In 1891, Riker became president of The Sydney Ross Company, manufacturers and exporters of pharmaceuticals. An avid traveler, he was “well known for his collections and explorations on the Amazon River.” Specimens from his collections of birds are in the Smithsonian Institution, and he published in The Auk and other periodicals for ornithologists. A life member of the Museum of Natural History, Riker was also a member of the Explorers Club. Clarence B. Riker’s father was Andrew Jackson Riker.


Upjohn [Co.?] made a small laxative pill for The Sydney Ross Company, a venture started independently in New York City in 1891 by Frederick L Upjohn and Clarence Riker, [They named the company after a name on a headstone at the Brooklyn cemetery!] Frederick L. Upjohn , along with his three brothers, was one of the founders of the Upjohn Pill & Granule Company in 1886 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The company’s name was changed to The Upjohn Company in 1902 and is today one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world. (Now part of Pharmacia?) Fredrick Upjohn opened the New York office of the company a year after the company was established. However in 1909, after major disagreements and much quarrelling between the 3 brothers, W.E. Upjohn bought the other 2 out and took sole control of the Upjohn Company. Sydney Ross Co. participated in the aspirin war concerning Sterling Drugs company and I.G. Farben (Bayer) in South America, after WWI.


In the 1880’s Clarence Riker, an employee of a shipping firm who had taken a holiday cruise to Brazil and collected birds.
He worked for Jeavons shipping firm from New York and then was general manager for Booth and Red Cross Steamship line to Brazil, “and in the summer of 1884 procured leave from the shipping firm by which he was employed and went up the Amazon as far as Santarem.”






In the Oct 1885 Auk we have A Specimen of Helminthopila Leucobronchialis in New Jersey by C. B. RICKER. Some of the Rikers spelled their name Ricker. (Please see Basheri conversation in this Bird Taxonomy and Nomenclature archives) I believe this is Clarence B. Riker. Mostly because Frank Chapman described Riker as “could mount birds well and had formed a small collection, including a specimen of the then little known Brewster's Warbler.”

There used to be a bird called Riker’s Nun Bird. (from the SACC) Monasa morphoeus, Peters (1948) treated rikeri as a synonym of nominate morphoeus.

[Richard Klim]

Originally Posted by GMK

Richard has pointed to, without being cruel enough to spell it out, an error in Beolens & Watkins, to whit Alexander's Phylloscopus was named for his brother, not E. G. Herbert.

Yes, I should have mentioned that Jobling is clear on this.

[Susan Manchester]

Does anyone have even a first name for E. G. Herbert? He wrote for the Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam, was a prolific collector for the British Museum and was a guest at several of the meetings of the British Ornithologists' Union, but every SINGLE listing of his name has his first initials only. I am having the same problem with G. E. Webb, who Herbert replaced on the Journal Committee.

[GMK]

Edward Grevile Herbert (1870–1951). Was sometimes listed as Capt. in lists of members of the British Ornithologists’ Club, but Wells (2007: 731) states that he was a “businessman”.

[James Jobling]

Edward G. Herbert was a businessman with the Bombay-Burmah Trading Corpn.

[Susan Manchester]

Thank you so much, Guy and James! You saved my sanity for sure! Do you have any information on G. E. Webb?

[James Jobling]

G. Ernest Webb doesn't seem to have a bird named after him, so he is not in my books. However,in the Bangkok & Siam Directory for 1914 he is shown as an English master (BA) at Kings College, Bangkok.

[Susan Manchester]

Thank you again, James! I guess that was a lot of work for nothing, was it not. At least I learned another obscure fact!