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Major Dyott's invalid Gannet and ditto Riflebird (1 Viewer)

Björn Bergenholtz

(former alias "Calalp")
Sweden
Maybe something additional on yet another guy and eponym stumbled upon ...

dyotti as in:
• the invalid subspecies "Sula serrator dyotti" MATHEWS 1913 (here); no dedication, nor explanation, the only clue being: "Type, Tasmania, 10th December, 1899"* [Syn. Australian Gannet (Sula) Morus serrator GRAY 1843]
• the invalid subspecies "Ptiloris paradisea dyotti" MATHEWS 1915 (here); same situation; no dedication, nor explanation, only clue: "Type, Cairns, North Queensland" [Syn. Victoria's Riflebird (Lophorina) Ptiloris victoriae GOULD 1850]

In today's HBW Alive Key explained as:
dyotti
Robert Dyott (fl. 1913) Australian collector, field ornithologist (syn. Morus serrator, syn. Ptiloris victoriae).
.... which could possibly, maybe commemorate the British Major Richard Archibald Dyott, of Freeford Hall (today Freeford Manor), Lichfield, Staffordshire, collector of various Naturalia, (insects, fishes birds etc.) and ethnographic items, in Australia 1906-1910 (incl. Tasmania in 1909*), but also on New Guinea, Tonga, Fiji, The Solomons, New Zealand and Ceylon (the latter on his journey home). He also wrote the book Travels in Australasia (1912), here, under the pseudonym "Wandandian" [Wandandia was the base for Dyott during his visit in NSW (also a local, native word maning "home of lost lovers")].

*NOTE: Year doesn´t fit with the collection of the type specimen of "his" Gannet (at least not according to the OD). But on the other hand there´s nothing (in the OD) indicating that Mathews's reason to name it after Dyott, was that he´d collected that certain specimen, Dyott could have supplied Mathews with additional ones (that convinced him?), who knows... as usual with Mr. Mathews there´s very little indicating anything. Note that Mr. Dyott did shoot two "Sula serrator" on the 10th of December, in 1909 (if we´re to trust his own words in Travels in Australasia, p.345) ... !!!

Simply a typo by Mathews, in the OD ... or a Printers error?

Who "Robert Dyott" was? When he was born, or died? I haven´t got a clue!

Thereby; take the above for what it´s worth!

Björn
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Greenway JC. 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 150:207-346. [pdf]:
Sula serrator dyotti Mathews
Sula serrator dyotti Mathews, 1912a, p. 63 (Tasmania).
Now Sula serrator serrator (Gray). See Mathews, 1927, p. 231.
HOLOTYPE: AMNH 729150, male, collected on Mariah [Maria?] Island, Tasmania by A. S. W. Dyott, December 10, 1909. Mathews designated his "type" only: "Tasmania, 10 December, 1899." The year is an obvious lapsus for he appears to have had only one from Tasmania and his type label is attached (No. 14753). From the Mathews and the Rothschild collection.
On one hand, this confirms the date was a typo and should have been 1909; but, on the other, "A. S. W." fits neither "Robert" nor "Richard Archibald"...

"Mathews, 1927" is his Systema Avium Australasianarum.
 
All these posts about invalid birds recently . . . just can't get it out of my mind, the idea of a Gannet hobbling around on crutches and with a bandage over its head, the poor thing . . . 3:)
 
See also
Mathews GM. 1915. Birds of Australia. Vol. 4. Witherby & Co, London. [p. 223]:
The bird figured and described is a male, collected in Tasmania on December 10th, 1909, by Mr. Dyott, who very kindly gave me the skin and after whom the bird is named.
 
I based the Key entry solely on Whittell 1954, The Literature of Australian Birds, p. 222; "DYOTT, Robert. Supplied G. M. Mathews with field-notes, which the latter used in his "Birds of Australia." After him Mathews named Sula serrator dyotti (1913) and Ptilorhis paradiseus dyotti (1915)." Major Richard Dyott has some merit, but I think Mathews would have referred to him as Major Dyott. Could A.S.W. Dyott be a typo also?
 
There is also a complement to Greenway's work, with a little bit more info -
LeCroy M. 2017. Addenda and corrigenda to Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, part 1. (by James C. Greenway, Jr. 1973. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150 (3): 207–346). [pdf]:
Sula serrator dyotti Mathews
Sula serrator dyotti Mathews, 1913b: 63 (Tasmania).
Now Morus serrator (G.R. Gray, 1843). See Mathews, 1915a: 219–223, pl. 226; Peters, 1931: 82; Greenway, 1973: 235; Condon, 1975: 44; Dorst and Mougin, 1979:183; Medway, 1993; Checklist Committee, 2010: 139–140; and Dickinson and Remsen, 2013: 194.
HOLOTYPE: AMNH 729150, male, collected on Mariah Island, Tasmania, Australia, on 10 December 1909, by A.S.W. Dyott (no. 730). From the Mathews Collection (no. 14753) via the Rothschild Collection.
COMMENTS: As noted by Greenway, Mathews incorrectly gave the year of collection as 1899, but 1909 is clearly written on Dyott’s label, which remains on the specimen. Mathews’ catalog number is written on his type label even though it was not given in the description. Opposite that number a single specimen is entered. There the date is not clearly written and looks there like 10-12-99, but it is the single specimen he received from Dyott. Mathews marked the catalog “Type dyotti.” He did not mention other specimens.
The holotype bears, in addition to Mathews and Rothschild type labels, a blank “Figured” label, indicating that it was the model for Mathews (1915a: pl. 226, opp. p. 219, text pp. 219–223) where, on p. 223, Mathews noted that “The bird figured and described is a male, collected in Tasmania on December 10th 1909, by Mr. Dyott, who very kindly gave me the skin and after whom the bird is named.”
It seems likely that "ASW" was taken from Dyott's own label...? (Could these letters have been something else than his initials?)

In any case, the fact that "Wandandian", in Travels in Australasia [here], reported having shot two Sula serrator at the type locality ("Mariah Island, which is situated on the east coast of Tasmania"), on the day the type was collected according to its original label (as reported independently by both Greenway and LeCroy), seems hard to dismiss...
 
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Major Richard Dyott has some merit, but I think Mathews would have referred to him as Major Dyott.
Not if he was not a Major at that point.
In the London Gazette of 2 Mar 1915 [here], he was mentioned as a Second Lieutenant of the Honourable Artillery Company.
And [here], in what appears to be the text of the 1931 edition of Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, he was "capt. H.A.C.", i.e., Captain, in the same Company.

(He was born in New York, 27 Oct 1881, and died in Freeford, Lichfield, Staff., 28 May 1965, according to various genealogical sources on the Web.)
 
Birmingham Ornithology Collections Part 5 – The Collection of Foreign Birds (See pdf here, 1st Post):
Major Richard Archibald Dyott
R.A. Dyott went to Australia in his mid twenties and was a keen collector of insects, birds and ethnographic specimens from the outset. Many of these he subsequently presented to Birmingham Museum (insects in 1924, zoology in 1930, bird skins and ethnography in 1932).
The specimens in Birmingham suggest that he was in Australia from 1904 to 1910 but visited other countries in the region such as New Guinea, The Solomons, New Zealand and Ceylon (the latter on his journey home). On the basis of his original labels it can be ascertained that he collected birds from New South Wales in every year between 1904 to 1910, from Queensland in 1905, 1907, 1908 and 1910, from South Australia and Tasmania in 1909 and from Ceylon in 1910. He published a book in 1912 in which he describes his travels and collecting called Travels in Australasia under the pseudonym “Wandandian”, Wandandia being the town in New South Wales where he was based for much of his time. The Dyott family home was at Freeford Hall, Lichfield.


[from pp.1-2 ... also see onwards, he´s mentioned in most pages]
...
Major Richard Dyott has some merit, but I think Mathews would have referred to him as Major Dyott.
...
According to this Genealogy page he was born 27 October 1881 and died "28 May 1965 - Age of 83", (as in; he would have become 84, in October), thereby, and if so, I find it highly unlikely that he, in his "twenties", was tiled Major, when he visited Australasia in 1904/6-1910.

He's also found here, and here, all with the claim of being born in 1881. Also see; here versus here (the latter as Lieutenant, in 1916-1919) ... indicating (at least to me) that he did´nt joined the Army pre-1914 (possibly WW1).

However I have no answer what-so-ever on the intriguing "A.S.W." part ...

For what it is worth!

Björn

PS. Laurent, you were quicker than me! I was still typing, linking away, when you posted #7 ;)
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There is also a complement to Greenway's work, with a little bit more info -
LeCroy M. 2017. Addenda and corrigenda to Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, part 1. (by James C. Greenway, Jr. 1973. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150 (3): 207–346). [pdf]:
...
Laurent, the link above leads to: LeCroy's Part 12 (Passeriformes; ...), from 2014 ... where it´s very, very hard to find the Gannet quote you posted ... ;).

However, the upside is that there (on pp.95-96) we do find:
Ptiloris paradisea dyotti Mathews

Ptiloris paradisea dyotti Mathews, 1915a: 133 (Cairns, North Queensland).

Now Ptiloris victoriae Gould, 1850. See Mayr, 1962d: 187; Gilliard, 1969: 117; Schodde and Mason, 1999: 529; Christidis and Boles, 2008: 200–201; and Frith and Frith, 2009b: 476.

SYNTYPES: AMNH 677755, adult male, Cairns, 16.51S, 145.43E (Times Atlas), Queensland, Australia, on 8 October 1884, by T.H. Bowyer-Bower (no. 108). From the Mathews Collection (no. 16842) via the Rothschild Collection.

AMNH 677734, adult male, Barron River, Queensland, Australia, on 21 July 1884, by T.H. Bowyer-Bower (no. 109). From the Mathews Collection (no. 16844) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews (1915a: 133) introduced the name dyotti, stating that the type was from Cairns, Queensland, and that it differed from victoriae ‘‘in its generally richer, darker coloration,’’ apparently referring to male plumage. I am considering AMNH 677755 a syntype of dyotti based on additional information I have uncovered concerning the specimen. It is the only Mathews specimen cataloged at AMNH as having come from Cairns.

There is no original label on this specimen. The Mathews Collection label gives the collecting locality as Cairns, the date as 8- 10-84, and Mathews’ catalog number as 16842. In his catalog, it is listed as having been collected by T.H. Bowyer-Bower on the correct date. None of the Bowyer-Bower specimens cataloged at that time had locality data entered.

Mathews (1942: 52–53) was given part of Bowyer-Bower’s collection by his mother, and although the specimens were collected much earlier, they were not cataloged by Mathews until 1913. In 1915, Mathews (1915b: 15–20, 29–33, 56–62) published a series of papers on the Queensland part of this collection. There, on page 61, he listed three specimens of Ptiloris paradisea victoriae: two of them with Bowyer-Bower’s nos. 109 and 111, were females, from the Barron River, collected on 21 July and 20 August 1884, and one with Bowyer-Bower’s no. 108, was male, from ‘‘Gordan’s Camp,’’ collected on 8 October 1884. Mathews (1915b: 15) had noted that Gordan’s Camp was at Cairns. AMNH 677755 still bears a tiny tag with Bowyer-Bower’s no. 108 on it.

Because the description seemed to refer only to males, the correspondence in date between Mathews’ reporting on Bowyer-Bower’s Queensland collection and the publication of Ptiloris paradisea dyotti led me to believe that this male may have been the only specimen that Mathews considered when he described dyotti. The other two birds listed by Mathews (1915b: 61) were females, and I did not consider them part of the type series.

However, when I checked Mathews’ catalog, I found that he had entered four Bowyer-Bower specimens, not three. His no. 16845, female, collected on 20 August 1884, is now AMNH 677745 and bears a small tag with Bowyer-Bower’s no. 111. These data connect it to one of the females listed by Mathews (1915b: 61).

The problem arises with Mathews’ no. 16843, female, and no. 16844, male, both collected on 21 July 1884. The female should be the specimen listed by Mathews (1915b: 61) bearing Bowyer-Bower’s no. 109. It is not to be found either in the AMNH catalog or in the collection. On the other hand, the male, now AMNH 677734, has a small tag with Bowyer-Bower’s no. 109 attached to one leg, and Mathews’ collection label on which is written his catalog no. 16844, ‘‘Barron River,’’ and 21 July 1884. Mathews was prone to consider ‘‘Barron River’’ specimens, even when they came from the Atherton Tableland, as being from the Cairns area, and in fact had titled his report on Bowyer- Bower’s Queensland specimens as ‘‘Birds from the Cairns District, Queensland.’’ This specimen undoubtedly came to Mathews at the same time as the rest of Bowyer-Bower’s collection and also must have been part of his type series of dyotti. I consider it a second syntype.
The link to Mary LeCroy's Addenda and corrigenda to Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, part 1., (2017) is this one; here.

/B
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Laurent, the link above leads to: LeCroy's Part 12 (Passeriformes; ...), from 2014 ... where it´s very, very hard to find the Gannet quote you posted ... ;).
[...]
The link to Mary LeCroy's Addenda and corrigenda to Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, part 1., (2017) is this one; here.
Oups, sorry.
I had indeed checked both, didn't find any reference to Dyott besides the use of the name in this one, hence commented only about the other one... But I pasted the wrong link in my post, it seems.
 
No worries Laurent, it has happened to me as well. Simply a bad link, that wasn´t all bad. It gave us (at least me) additional info on G. M. Mathews's "Ptiloris paradisea dyotti". Thanks! :t:

And: The plot thickens! In the entry for a completely different bird, the Collared Butcher-Bird, Mathews wrote:
Mr. R. T. Dyott has given me a note: ...

[in Birds of Australia, 1923 (Supplement No 2, Part 2), here, on p.392]
Yet another typo? Or are there possiby two different guys, by the same surname, in about the same Era, both connected to Mr. Mathews! Maybe that´s the guy Whittell was thinking about/believing it was); the Robert Dyott, who 'Supplied G. M. Mathews with field-notes, which the latter used in his "Birds of Australia"' ...!?

Either way, on circumstantial evidence. I still think Richard Archibald Dyott (1881–1965) is the guy commemorated in the synonymous Gannet.

This even without any explanation what-so-ever of the "A.S.W." part.

But, as always: Don´t hesitate to prove me wrong.

In the case of the dyotti Riflebird ... if the Type of that one truly was collected in 1884 (by Bowyer-Bower, but " not cataloged by Mathews until 1913"), ... I simply don´t know. We could possibly, be looking at a case involving yet another Mr Dyott all together. Or maybe Mathews did commemorate either one of the above mentioned guys in the Riflebird (even if none of them had anything to do with collecting the specimen/s themselves)? Who knows?

Note that a certain "Robert Dyott" apparently did collect the "type" specimen of the today invalid "Spenura broadbenti whitei" MATHEWS 1912, in South Australia, in April 1912. See LeCroy 2008; here (p.123)

As often when dealing with Gregory Macalister Mathews and his birds/names we find ourselves fumbling in the dark. Well, I don´t think I can go much further, not without seeing, reading the specimen labels, or visiting those far-away archives in Australia.

I´m done ... in this thread.
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Quick return ...

Please note that I´m not all convinced regarding the dedicatee of the invalid Riflebird subspecies "Ptiloris paradisea dyotti" which today's HBW Alive Key entry might make you believe:
dyotti
Maj. Richard Archibald Dyott (1881-1965) British Army, naturalist, collector in Australasia and Ceylon 1904-1910 (Björn Bergenholtz in litt.) (cf. "Robert Dyott" (Whittell 1954)) (syn. Morus serrator, syn. Ptiloris victoriae).
See post #11. I feel pretty safe regarding the Gannet, but the Dyott behind the Riflebird ...? It could very well be two different guys. ;)

Björn
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As The Eponym Dictionary of Birds cliams one more:
Wattlebird genus Dyottornis Mathews 1912 NCR [Now in Anthochaera]
Australasian Gannet ssp. Morus serrator dyotti Mathews 1913 NCR; NRM
Paradise Riflebird ssp. Ptiloris paradiseus dyotti Mathews 1915 NCR; NRM
Robert A. Dyott (fl.1913) was an Australian ornithologist and collector. He was in Tasmania and Queensland (1913-1915).

Dyottornis Mathews 1912 here

I m not sure what MS Pamphlets on Biology: Kofoid collection (there as Robert A. Dyott) is claiming.

In The Key to Scientific Names as:
(Meliphagidae; syn. Anthochaera Yellow Wattlebird A. paradoxa) Robert Dyott (fl. 1913) Australian field ornithologist; Gr. ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos bird; "1,298. DYOTTORNIS, gen. nov. Differs from Anthochæra Vigors and Horsfield, Type A. mellivora (= Merops chrysopterus Latham), in its longer bill, much stronger feet, longer wing and very long fan-shaped tail, and the presence of long pendulous wattles. Type, Corvus paradoxus Daudin." (Mathews 1912); "Dyottornis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec. vol. i. p. 116, Dec. 24th, 1912. Type (by original designation): Corvus paradoxus Daudin." (Mathews, 1930, Syst. Av. Austral., II, p. 796).
 
I m not sure what MS Pamphlets on Biology: Kofoid collection (there as Robert A. Dyott) is claiming.
I think I already wrot that somewhere here, but the what is called "Pamphlets on Biology: Kofoid collection" is a collection of pamphlets (i.e., short works and separates) by a huge variety of authors, originally gathered by the zoologist Charles Atwood Kofoid (1865-1947). Kofoid had these bound together into "volumes" which are still held at the University of California, and these "volumes" were scanned by Google.

In this particular case, the claim should be attributed to Charles W Richmond, in:
Richmond CW. 1917. Generic names applied to birds during the years 1906 to 1915, inclusive, with additions and corrections to Waterhouse's "Index Generum Avium." Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 53: 565-636.​
Richmond corresponded with Mathews, so this may have been a text that was sent privately to him by the author.
 
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I can find no evidence of a second R.A. Dyott working in Australia.

Richards surname was actually Burnaby-Dyott but his father's name was Burnaby. I believe this came about by the father adding Dyott to his name after they inherited the family seat from a cousin.

Richard's brother Captain George Miller Burnaby-Dyott lead an expedition to New Guinea in the 1930s.

I think it is difficult to imagine how little Mathews gave a damn about anyone else - his inability to even use some ones correct name is typical.
 
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