John Kirk Townsend: Collector of Audubon’s Western Birds and Mammals is the first in-depth biography of Townsend, an ornithologist from Philadelphia who crossed the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River in 1834 and made two visits to the Hawaiian Islands. He returned home with a great haul of bird and mammal specimens that were used by John James Audubon in the preparation of his Birds of America and Viviparous Quadrupeds, including Townsend’s Warbler, Townsend’s Chipmunk, Townsend’s Ground Squirrel, and Townsend’s Mole.

Barbara and Richard Mearns examine Townsend’s Quaker upbringing; track him on his journey westwards; provide a modern zoological commentary on his discoveries; trace his troubled career and discuss his association with Audubon and the major contribution that Townsend made to his famous works.

The heart of this book is an exciting new presentation of Townsend’s Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains, to the Columbia River, and a visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili &c (1839). Although there have been several editions of the Narrative this version includes new material from Townsend’s original journal, is the first to be fully illustrated and the first to include Audubon paintings of the very specimens that Townsend collected.

Essential reading for those with an interest in early Western travels and the Oregon Trail; the zoology of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest; the history of ornithology and the contribution of Audubon, Bachman, Nuttall and Townsend; the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the National Institute at Washington; and Quaker naturalists.

Includes approx 350 illustrations (300 in colour), 11 maps, 4 flow charts, 18 appendices and extensive bibliography.

Maps highlight Townsend’s route across the Rocky Mountains and show where he collected his birds and mammals.

Townsend’s two visits to the Hawaiian Islands and his time in Tahiti and Chile are given full coverage. Includes over 35 portraits of the principal characters in the Townsend story, as well as previously unpublished portraits of Townsend and his family.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Barbara and Richard Mearns are British naturalists who have pursued their life-long interest in many parts of North America and Europe. For over twenty years they have been writing about the history of ornithology and the lives of hundreds of naturalists.

Their previous research on both sides of the Atlantic gives them a unique perspective from which to assess John Kirk Townsend (1809-1851) and his contribution to the development of zoology in North America as well as his relationships with eminent contemporaries such as Thomas Nuttall, John Bachman and John James Audubon.

Barbara runs the international office of A Rocha, a Christian conservation organization. Richard has studied Peregrines in southwest Scotland and Greenland, and Corn Crakes in the Outer Hebrides. After twenty years as a countryside ranger he is now working as a freelance ecologist, writer and photographer from their home near Dumfries.

OTHER BOOKS BY THE MEARNSES:

Audubon to Xantus: The Lives of Those Commemorated in North American Bird Names. Academic Press, 1992 (2003).

The Bird Collectors. Academic, 1997.. International Birdwatching Center Eilat, 1987.

Biographies for Birdwatchers. (Out of Print) Academic Press, 1988.

"In The Bird Collectors, the Mearnses demonstrate that they remain the most gifted ornithological biographers of our generation." -Ted Floyd, Birding 1999.

How to order