Past Exhibits: > Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds
May 6, 2022 – September 5, 2022
John Gould, the British ornithologist and prolific publisher, had a great fascination for the family of hummingbirds. In his position of Curator and Preserver to the Zoological Society of London, specimen collections were the foundation of his work. Because this species only occurs in the New World, he corresponded with field naturalists in tropical regions requesting examples of every variety. By the time of his death, he had formed a collection of 5,000 specimens. His legendary display for London’s Great Exhibition of 1851 had nearly 2,000 birds from 300 species preserved and mounted in specially built glass cases.
Gould began to publish a serious work on hummingbirds before he had ever seen one alive. He traveled to Philadelphia in 1857 where he finally encountered a living Ruby-throated Hummingbird. After witnessing its flying behavior, he revised his descriptions.
