Mr Bancroft's (Yellow-crowned) Night Heron ssp. (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Just to be safe, let's have a quick look at yet another guy (simply stumbled upon along the way) commemorated in the Scientific name ...

bancrofti as in:
• the Yellow-crowned Night Heron ssp. Nyctanassa violacea bancrofti HUEY 1927 (here, see footnote 1):

Named for Griffing Bancroft, of the San Diego Society of Natural History, who organized the trip on which the specimens were collected.

In today's Key explained as:

bancrofti
• Griffing Bancroft (1879-1955) US ornithologist, oologist, collector (subsp. Nyctanassa violacea).
• ...

However, in the Book Los Nombres de las Aves de Venezuela ... (primera parte: No Passeriformes), by Verea, Calvo & Pacheco (2018*) we find the following, somewhat different, claim for this taxon:

... en honor al oólogo, ornitólogo y periodista norteamericano Griffing Bancroft, Jr. (1907–1998).

Google translate:

... in honor of the North American oologist, ornithologist and journalist Griffing Bancroft, Jr. (1907–1998).

With the added Note:

Griffing Bancroft, Jr. (1907–1998) fue junto a su padre Griffing Bancroft, Sr. (1879–1955) un afamado coleccionista de huevos. Ambos lograron reunir una colección de 30.000 huevos, la cual fue donada (1941) al "American Museum of Natural History" de Nueva York (Beolens et al. 2014: 48).

Griffing Bancroft, Jr. (1907–1998) was, along with his father Griffing Bancroft, Sr. (1879–1955), a famous egg collector. Both managed to gather a collection of 30,000 eggs, which was donated (1941) to the "American Museum of Natural History" in New York (Beolens et al. 2014: 48).

That's two different claims/Years/persons (even if they were closely related, of course)!?

Are we possibly looking at a case where Verea et al., simply confused Mr Bancroft Junior with ditto Senior ... !?!

Either way, wouldn't Junior (if born in 1907) have been a bit young (only in his late teens) for organizing " ...the trip on which the specimens were collected" (which took place in May 1926) ... ?

To me, the explanation in the Key seems more likely, and that Verea, Calvo & Pacheco (due to Beolens et al.) were simply wrong.

Anyone who knows (for sure) ... ?

Also (simply to complicate things) note that the Author/Auctor, "Laurence M. Huey" [i.e. Laurence Markham Huey (1892–1963)], himself, even earlier (in 1923), had been collecting in the very same Area, on Baja California (in Mexico), together with both Griffing Bancroft Sr, and "his oldest son, Griffing junior. ..." (see here).

As well, see here, clearly connecting (at least) Senior with the San Diego Society of Natural History (in 1823).

Hrmm, tricky case …

Anyone with an opinion (either way)?

In any case, I guess the remaining questions would be; was Junior (as well) a Member of, or somehow connected to, the San Diego Society of Natural History, and (if so) from when? And wouldn’t Huey have given any kind of indication in the OD if he aimed it for the (less obvious) Son?

Either way, take it all for what it’s worth, just some observations (and some ponderings) ...

Björn

PS. If anyone wants to dig even further, into the finer details (on Senior), see here:

Griffing Bancroft (1875-1955), the son of historian Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918), was an ornithologist and oologist. Bancroft collected one of the largest private egg collections in the country prior to WWII. In the 1940s, Bancroft placed the collection with the San Diego Society of Natural History. When the U.S. Navy took over use of the museum's building in 1943, Bancroft placed the collection with Ed Newton Harrison (1914-2002), a businessman and fellow collector of bird eggs, skins and nests.

🧩

---

*Verea, C., E. J. Calvo & M. A. Pacheco. 2018. Los Nombres de las Aves de Venezuela: Comunes, Científicos, Aborígenes. Primera Parte: No Passeriformes. Instituto de Zoología Agrícola, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela. (here)