The German Oskar Heinroth and "his" Shearwater … (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

I don´t think there are any doubt that Heinroth's Shearwater Puffinus (lherminieri) heinrothi REICHENOW 1919 commemorate the German biologist, ethnologist, ornithologist, traveler and collector Oskar August Heinroth (1871–1945).

This Shearwater was described (and was given its Scientific name) by Anton Reichenow in 1919, but Oskar Heinroth who discovered the first specimen, a single newly fledged juvenile bird, obtained by the "Blanche-Bucht" (today's Blanche Bay), New Britain, on the 27 of May 1901, had written about it himself.

Even if he, Heinroth, didn´t dare to claim it was a new species, not from just one specimen, and a juvenile one … he just listed it as "Puffinus sp.?" … but I think he suspected it!

Heinroth's own text about this first juvenile bird was published in: Heinroth, O. 1902. Ornithologische Ergebnisse der „I. Deutschen Südsee Expedition von Br. Mencke.“/Zusammenstellung der vom 6. Dezember bis 6. Juni 1901 im Bismarckarchipel untersuchten und gesammelten Vögel. Journal für Ornithologie 50: 390-457. … on pp. 396-397 (attached).

I don´t understand much German … but isn´t that was this quote, by Heinroth himself, indicates?

"Wenn es auch durchaus möglich ist, dass der Vogel einer bisher unbeschriebenen Art angehört, so halte ich mich doch nicht für berechtigt, auf dies eine unerwachsene Stück eine neue Spezies zu gründen."

Is there anyone of you guys out there, with better knowledge of German feel like translating it?
If so, please as accurate as possible, as I would like to quote it myself in Swedish. And don´t hesitate to remark on any errors that I might have done transcribing it.

Does the rest of those two pages tell us anything of how he got hold of the bird? Was it shot, caught alive … or? And was it really just one, a single bird?

 

[tonimaroni]

I don´t think there are any doubt that Heinroth's Shearwater Puffinus (lherminieri) heinrothi REICHENOW 1919 commemorate the German biologist, ethnologist, ornithologist, traveler and collector Oskar August Heinroth (1871–1945).

This Shearwater was described (and was given its Scientific name) by Anton Reichenow in 1919, but Oskar Heinroth who discovered the first specimen, a single newly fledged juvenile bird, obtained by the "Blanche-Bucht" (today's Blanche Bay), New Britain, on the 27 of May 1901, had written about it himself.

Even if he, Heinroth, didn´t dare to claim it was a new species, not from just one specimen, and a juvenile one … he just listed it as "Puffinus sp.?" … but I think he suspected it!

Heinroth's own text about this first juvenile bird was published in: Heinroth, O. 1902. Ornithologische Ergebnisse der „I. Deutschen Südsee Expedition von Br. Mencke.“/Zusammenstellung der vom 6. Dezember bis 6. Juni 1901 im Bismarckarchipel untersuchten und gesammelten Vögel. Journal für Ornithologie 50: 390-457. … on pp. 396-397 (attached).

I don´t understand much German … but isn´t that was this quote, by Heinroth himself, indicates?

Is there anyone of you guys out there, with better knowledge of German feel like translating it?
If so, please as accurate as possible, as I would like to quote it myself in Swedish. And don´t hesitate to remark on any errors that I might have done transcribing it.

Does the rest of those two pages tell us anything of how he got hold of the bird? Was it shot, caught alive … or? And was it really just one, a single bird?

The quote by Heinroth translates like
"Even if its absolutely possible that this bird belongs to a hitherto undescribed species, I don't feel approved to describe a new species based on this single, immature specimen."

The bird was catched alive in the "Blanche Bay" by an aborigine. The bird swam on the water, weak and could be gripped without any defense.

 

[l_raty]

The bird was catched alive in the "Blanche Bay" by an aborigine. The bird swam on the water, weak and could be gripped without any defense.

...When Heinroth skinned the bird, he found it had no fat and strongly atrophied muscles; wing and tail feathers were not fully grown, the gut was empty, and the testes were juvenile. On the next page he describes the bird as similar to P. tenuirostris, but much smaller and with a strikingly thin bill, which he found noteworthy because a shearwater with such an almost fully-grown plumage should have been close to an adult in size.
(Then comes your quote.)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Great!

"tonimaroni" and Laurent,
Thanks for the translations and the added extra info!

That´ll do "the trick"! This is enough (at least for me) to finish my entry on this man and "his" Shearwater.

Heinroth ... over and out!

 

[Richard Klim]

Schulze-Hagen & Birkhead

Schulze-Hagen & Birkhead (in press). The ethology and life history of birds: the forgotten contributions of Oskar, Magdalena and Katharina Heinroth. J Ornithol. [abstract & preview]

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

A (fairly) new Book!

Karl Schulze-Hagen & Gabriele Kaiser (as well as Oskar and Magdalena Heinroth). 2020. Die Vogel-WG: Die Heinroths, ihre 1000 Vögel und die Anfänge der Verhaltensforschung. Knesebeck Verlag. ISBN 978-3-95728-395-5 (in German).

Die Heinroths und ihre schrägen Vögel

Kuriose und unterhaltsame Vogel-Beobachtungen eines Berliner Zoologen-Paares
Eine Etagenwohnung mitten in Berlin. In jedem Zimmer Vögel. Eine Nachtschwalbe brütet auf dem Teppich, ein Specht hackt Löcher in den Schrank, ein Mauersegler kreist durchs Wohnzimmer. Ein reales Szenario. Es liegt 100 Jahre zurück. Dieses Buch erzählt die Lebensgeschichte des Naturforscher-Paares Heinroth, das in seiner Wohnung fast 1.000 Vögel aufzog. Mit subtilem Sinn für Komik beschreiben die Heinroths ihre Beobachtungen und bringen dem Leser heimische Vogelarten damit ungewöhnlich nahe. Begleitet werden die kuriosen wie lehrreichen Beschreibungen von ihren besten Aufnahmen, die erst kürzlich wiederentdeckt wurden.

Spannende und interessante Fakten aus hautnaher Forschung über früher häufige und heute sehr seltene Vogelarten
Oskar Heinroth und seine ebenso passionierte Frau Magdalene gelten als Begründer der Verhaltensforschung. Über 30 Jahre lang zogen sie in ihrer Wohnung aus den Eiern, die sie selbst gesucht hatten oder überreicht bekamen, heimische Vögel auf, beobachteten ihre Verhaltensweisen und dokumentierten sie in Text und Bildern. Für Naturkundler des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts war ein Besuch in der Vogelwohnung der Heinroths das „Non plus ultra“. Heute sind diese beiden Forscher fast vergessen. Neben der Lebensgeschichte des Forscherpaares enthält das Buch die Beschreibungen von über 100 heimischen Vogelarten von Amsel bis Ziegenmelker. Das historische Bildmaterial wird ergänzt durch Originaltexte und Zitate.

So beschreibt diese unterhaltsame Naturkunde nicht nur das spannende und skurrile Leben des engagierten Forscher-Ehepaares Heinroth und ihre wissenschaftliche Leistung, sondern ist zugleich ein historisches Zeitdokument, das zum Nachdenken über das schleichende Verschwinden der Vögel in Mitteleuropa anregt.

Take a look at inside it (limited preview; here alt. here).

And just for the fun of it, some wonderful Photos of Oskar (August) Heinroth (1871–1945), and his (first) wife Magdalena Heinroth, née Wiebe (1883–1932); here, alt. here, or here and here.

Enjoy!

Björn