This classic of bird natural history spanning 400 years is beautiful in spring.

Every year from March to May, migratory birds fly over Qian Shan and return to the north-which also marks the best time for bird watching in China in spring.

"Bird-watching" sounds small, but in recent years, some groups who enjoy it have been born in major cities and are called "birdwatchers".

Relevant data show that as early as 20 19, the number of "birdmen" in China has exceeded six figures, and the number is still increasing rapidly. ...

It's just different from Britain, the birthplace of modern bird watching. In China, bird watching is regarded as a fashionable natural activity, mainly aimed at young people, and has been labeled as "middle class" or "intellectual".

As it happens, April 10-16 is "Bird Love Week". Today I recommend a new book-Bird Natural History.

The author Dr. Roger J. Ledel, an ornithologist, has been deeply involved in bird research for more than 40 years and is an honorary professor of biological sciences at California State University.

It sounds strange, doesn't it? But in fact, you have known him through various documentaries-he has also worked as a bird consultant for BBC, National Geographic and other TV stations.

Therefore, you don't have to worry about his books being boring and difficult to understand at all.

In fact, the English title of this book is more intuitive, called "Ornithology and Big Bird Artists", which selects 40 influential artists who specialize in painting birds and their works in the past 400 years.

On the topic of natural history and art, Mr. Yang Zhenning, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, intuitively said: "The western publishing industry is hundreds of years ahead of China in natural history and art." Another Nobel Prize winner, Mr. Mo Yan, also said: "Birds, animals, fish and insects are friends of human beings and the source of science and art."

Now, let's take a look at the natural history of birds, and see how common bird illustrations in our daily life have become so vivid and accurate with the efforts of ornithologists and artists for centuries!

As a pure art

Early bird painting

Birds have been the object of art for at least 40,000 years since the earliest human ancestors carved or painted images of feathered animals.

Birds appear in our folklore, myths and symbols.

Before17th century, birds were symbols of spiritual guidance in many cultures. Sparrows represent the ascension of souls, peacocks represent eternal life, crows represent evil thoughts, owls represent wisdom, and vultures represent greed and corruption.

In medieval paintings, the goldfinch with red forehead is often used to describe the story of the resurrection of Christ. Its wings are golden and its face is red. It likes to eat the seeds of thistle, which has become a religious symbol.

According to the limited information, what we can know at present is that the painting category of bird illustrations may have started from the Art of Bird Hunting written by Patrick II (about 1245).

Although these works have made great efforts in ornithology and illustration, and the sudden increase of realistic painting with birds as the object began in the Renaissance, the background of their birth has little to do with the development of natural science.

From 16 to 19 century, historical painting was considered as the most important school. Topics usually involve classical history, myths or the Bible. The storeroom scene is also a very common theme, showing the games to be served on the table.

These are inseparable from the important image of "bird".

In addition, during this period, portrait painting was also the main form of painting. Especially after 17, with the great geographical discovery, new species are constantly emerging, and the relationship between people and pets is getting closer and closer. Coupled with the popularity of hunting, the demand for bird art has also increased.

One of the most important is Snyder, a master painter from Antwerp. Rubens often hired him to paint still life and animals in his works.

But in his paintings, there are more birds.

/kloc-In the 6th century, people gave birds different grades according to their "nobility". Eagles, eagles and young birds are taller than other birds.

In the second place are birds that feed on insects and other invertebrates, such as cuckoo, nightingale, parrot and pheasant. Waterbirds that eat plants, such as geese, swans and ducks, rank third. Seed-eating songbirds come last.

In some of Snyder's paintings, the wart-nosed swan has always been in a conspicuous center, with its heavy white body spread out on the table and its long neck and head hanging on the edge of the table. The wart-nosed swan may symbolize purity, or its color and size make the picture layout more balanced.

In other words, the appearance or disappearance of a bird in the picture may be related to the ranking of the bird, or it may be just a decision made by the painter to balance the color of the picture.

After Snyder, the theme of birds became popular in Flemish art in17th century.

Karl peters fabricius, one of Rembrandt's best students.

His goldfinch is one of the most striking studies on a certain bird, and more importantly, it makes room for a single bird portrait for the first time, taking it as the center of the picture.

In addition, there was another famous bird painter in this period-melchior Hunde Cooter.

Humder Kutter can be said to be the only painter in the Netherlands who appreciates birds as perceptive animals. Before that, other painters seemed to only pay attention to color and regard birds as an ornament of the landscape.

Although artists have made great progress in drawing bird images since this period, it is a pity that artists can only draw by their own memories, descriptions of others and even their own imagination.

So although the picture is complicated, according to the present science, the artistic reproduction of birds is completely distorted.

After the birth of ornithology

Bird art

In Europe, the birth of ornithology as a science is inseparable from the urgent need to accurately depict bird images.

With the opening of new air routes, new birds are constantly discovered, and the newly collected birds need to be classified and illustrated, so ornithology gradually rises from natural history and natural history.

It can be said that the classification and information exchange of birds can not be separated from the accurate description of bird morphology and anatomical results with graphics. It is no exaggeration to say that it was art that made the development of ornithology possible in this period.

Therefore, during this period, you will find a phenomenon that has never appeared in the history of science-a great ornithologist with outstanding academic achievements must first be a master of bird painting with superb skills.

Among them, Mark Catesby, a British naturalist and the founder of American ornithology, was the first person to associate birds with the animals and plants they preyed on.

The birds painted by Katsby are very realistic.

He painted animals and plants together, setting a new standard for bird art, and this style is dominant in today's bird art.

Another important bird painter is alexander wilson, who is known as "the father of American ornithology". At the age of 27, he met Alexander Lawson, a scot, who taught him sketching and etching.

All the paintings in Wilson's works were painted by himself. He integrated his observation in the wild into the painting of birds. Although he didn't draw many environmental features, birds have different postures, which is very consistent with their postures in the wild.

Limited by the printing cost at that time, Wilson had to draw many different birds on the same piece of paper. Most of these birds have no obvious internal relationship, which is a bit regrettable.

Eliot Cooes, a scientist and historian, pointed out that "even if Wilson's previous books on American birds are destroyed, it will not cause any losses to the scientific community." It's hard to imagine a higher evaluation.

After that, a landmark figure, john james audubon, will be ushered in the bird art world. He is regarded as an unparalleled bird artist in American history.

Audubon's American Birds (1838) is regarded as one of the best works in the field of ornithology.

He was also one of only two American students elected as members of the Royal Society (the most important scientific organization at that time), and the other was Benjamin Franklin.

The golden age of ornithology development

In1831-1836, Charles Darwin completed his famous voyage on the battleship beagle. When he returned to England, he had become a famous scientist.

1859, his classic book "The Origin of Species" was finally published, and his discovery of Galapagos finches provided evidence for Darwin's theory that "species are not immutable".

John Gould and Elizabeth, Gould's Big-billed Chickens, selected from charles robert darwin's Zoology during the voyage of Beagle, trilogy: Birds, (1838- 184 1).

Darwin showed great interest in the process of sexual selection of birds: among birds, male feathers are often more gorgeous than female ones to attract the opposite sex. The reason is that Darwin may be curious about colorful birds such as parrots or peacocks, which was a common artistic theme at that time.

Darwin borrowed some books illustrated by Edward Lille from the Royal Society Library, calling one of them a "great work".

Edward Lille was the first important bird artist to draw birds based on live birds instead of specimens. 1839, Lille may have an illustration of Darwin's Japanese chronicle "The voyage of the Beagle".

19th century is the golden age of ornithology development.

It is difficult for artists to compare the birds on one page with those on another. For convenience, they began to put several similar birds on the same page, which is the core of the illustrations in the monograph.

For example, Richard Baudler Sharp's Kingfisher Album was illustrated by John Gerard Colmans.

From 1870 to 1900, any important book on ornithology can be said to be incomplete without Coleman's illustrations.

Colmans can be said to be the best illustrator of bird books in the19th century.

According to incomplete statistics, Coleman created as many as 4,000-5,000 works in his life, mainly birds, but also a few mammals, insects and shellfish.

With the gradual decrease of individual exploration or exploration activities funded by sponsors, more purposeful government-funded exploration activities have stepped onto the historical stage.

This requires explorers to find a systematic way to integrate new discoveries into the existing scientific framework. Artists not only reproduce scientific discoveries with paintings, but also actively participate in them. Robert ridgway is a typical representative.

Robert ridgway

Robert ridgway described more bird species in North America than any ornithologist at that time.

After accumulating a lot of experience in drawing bird portraits and writing detailed descriptions of birds, ridgway realized the necessity of standardizing colors and color names.

1886 published his "naturalist's notes on color naming and a compilation of practical knowledge of ornithologists". 19 12 years, he published a bigger book,115 color, which has become the standard followed not only by naturalists, but also by paint, chemistry and wallpaper manufacturers.

An era when photography is so convenient.

Why do we need bird illustrations?

/kloc-before the end of 0/8 century, immigrants' interest in birds was mainly as food or as decorative elements in paintings.

In the early Victorian Elbow Dynasty, birds became the object of serious study.

1904, a kind of "bird-land" brand camera that shoots wild animals with thousands of cameras appeared in the market. 19 12, the first bird photography Expo was held in London. At that time, birdwatchers, artists and naturalists could take photos of birds taken in the wild home.

With the development of photographic printing equipment and technology, both for scientific illustration and consumption, the artistic level has been improved.

In recent years, some talented bird artists have published many wonderful works, such as feathers, scales and eye colors.

The birds painted by Elizabeth Butterworth are as delicate and lifelike as photographs, whether they are whole or body parts.

Raymond Harris-Chin described thousands of birds in a unique environment with meticulous brushwork.

Janet Turner filled the whole painting with birds.

Janet Turner's Pelican

The answer is that the photo captures the situation of a bird at a certain moment, and its posture, feathers, legs and light are all frozen at this moment. After a few seconds, the photo taken again may be very different from the last one.

Painting shows the ideal posture and color of birds, which can attract people's attention to the most important identification characteristics of birds.

The era of scientific illustration continues, but the content has changed.

Nowadays, illustrated bird books, whether field guides or picture books, are mainly not for scientific research, but for emotional cultivation.

Today, the aesthetic function of bird art is far greater than its symbolic significance.

Natural history of birds

Hunan science and technology publishing house