What did Carl Hellmayr do to deserve "his" pipit? (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

I don´t think there´s much discussion that Hellmayr's Pipit Anthus hellmayri HARTERT 1909 commemorate the German-american ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr (1878–1944) …

But now I´m simply trying to understand why he deserved such an honour!?

The type description of Ernst Hartert (attached) clearly tells us:

"Je dédie cet Anthus à mon ami Monsieur C. E. Hellmayr, qui m’a beaucoup assisté à rédiger ces notes sur les Oiseaux Argentins.”

And he motivated it with the following sentences:

"C’est à tort qu’on a employé le nom de chii pour désigner l’espèce qui a la rectrice ultime d’un fumé brunâ tre, et la pénultime noirâtre, avec seulement une très petit tache blanchâtre à la pointe. Vieillot (Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., 2e édit., vol. xxvi. p. 490) a dénommé “le chii” d’Azara qui est dit avoir “la penne extérieure blanche et une bordure de la même couleur à la seconde penne, “ et être plus petit que correndera. Évidemment cette description ne se rapporte pas à l’espèce nommée chii par les auteurs, mais s’applique plutôt au petit A. lutescens, ce qui est cepentant trop incertain qu’on puisse accepter le nom de chii pour ce dernier.”

With only limited knowledge (close to none!) of French I hope that any of Bird Forums readers feel like translating those two quotes for me!? If so, please as accurate as possible, as I would like to quote them myself in Swedish. And don´t hesitate to remark on any errors that I might have done transcribing it.

Anyone feel up to it?

Or maybe just a brief summary of how the chii came to be hellmayri!?
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Also note the "disclaimer" (this time in English) by Hartert in the beginning of the same article:

”I am greatly obliged to my friend Mr. C. E. Hellmayr and to Miss Michaelis for looking over the manuscripts and proofs, and I trust that by their kind help a work has been produced which even Frenchmen will be able to read without too great a horror over the violation of their language.”

 

[Rick Wright]

I dedicate this pipit of the genus Anthus to my friend C.E. Hellmayr, who helped me considerably in preparing these notes on the birds of Argentina.

One has erroneously used the name chii to designate that species with the outermost rectrix dusky brownish and the next to last blackish with just a very small whitish spot at the tip. Vieillot named the chii of Azara, which is said to have 'the outermost feather white, with an edging of the same color on the next to last feather" and to be smaller than correndera. Apparently, this description does not apply to the species named chii by the authors, but instead to the small Anthus lutescens; it is, however, not sufficiently certain that one should accept the name of chii for the latter species [namely lutescens].

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Great!

Hellmayr (and you, Rick) helping out sorting notes is surely enough ...

That´ll do the trick!

Hellmayr ... over and out!

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Correction of Hellmayr …

After a closer look on Mr. Hellmayr I have to do a small alteration: Because I was wrong!

Not of the man himself, he is still the well-known, great ornithological authority (especially on the South American Avifauna) Carl Eduard Hellmayr (1878–1944), but he wasn´t "German-American" or "German/US". He was Austrian!

Carl Hellmayr was born the 29 January 1878 in (or near) Vienna, Austria … and he died 24 February 1944, in Orselina, Tessin (Tecino), in Southern Switzerland.

He spent many years abroad, including nine years (1922–1931) in Chicago, USA , and that´s where the (originally) German-speaking Hellmayr (later) became known as "German-American".

For a longer account of his Life, see Obituaries in the Ibis 87 (1945), pp.110-112, or the Auk 61 (1944), pp: 616-622.

PS. Just a small bibliographical question: Anyone know who´s behind the abbreviation "W. H. O." of the first Obituary in the Ibis? The second "N. B. K." is (Sir) Norman Boyd Kinnear.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Answering myself ...

PS. Just a small bibliographical question: Anyone know who´s behind the abbreviation "W. H. O." of the first Obituary in the Ibis? The second "N. B. K." is (Sir) Norman Boyd Kinnear.

... if someone else is interested. "W. H. O." = the US zoologist Wilfred Hudson Osgood.

The Obituary over Hellmayr, in the Ibis, is apparently not written by Kinnear alone (as is often claimed) but there are two obituaries remembering their Austrian friend:
Osgood, W. H. 1945. Obituary. Carl Eduard Hellmayr. The Ibis 87 (1): 110-112.
Kinnear, N. B. 1945. Obituary. Carl Eduard Hellmayr. The Ibis 87 (1): 112.

That´s it!