1. William Yarrell was an English zoologist, prolific writer, bookseller and naturalist admired by his contemporaries for his precise scientific work.
15 Facts About William Yarrell
1. 2.
William Yarrell described Bewick's swan in 1830, distinguishing it from the larger whooper swan.
3.
William Yarrell was born in Duke Street, St James's in London, to Francis William Yarrell and his wife Sarah.
4.
William Yarrell's father died in 1794 and the Yarrells moved the short distance to Great Ryder Street, where William lived the rest of his life.
5.
William Yarrell sometimes left the business in Jones's care, going into the countryside to fish and shoot.
6.
William Yarrell acquired the reputation of being the best shot and the best angler in London, soon becoming an expert naturalist.
7.
William Yarrell sent many bird specimens to Thomas Bewick, who engraved them as woodcuts for his own book of British birds.
8.
William Yarrell was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1825.
9.
William Yarrell wrote in 1827 on the structure of the tracheae of birds and on plumage changes in pheasants.
10.
William Yarrell corresponded and shared specimens with other naturalists including Thomas Bewick, Sir William Jardine, Prideaux John Selby and Nicholas Aylward Vigors, as well as with the Cornish naturalist Jonathan Couch, who provided him with many specimens, especially of fish.
11.
William Yarrell was one of the original members of the Zoological Society of London.
12.
At the time of its release, William Yarrell's Birds was considered the best work on the subject both scientifically and artistically, as noted by Prof.
13.
Alfred Newton in his "Prospectus" to the 1871 edition, from which William Yarrell's introduction was removed along with the names of contributing artists under Thompson's direction.
14.
William Yarrell died during a trip to Great Yarmouth and a memorial was erected in St James's Church, Piccadilly.
15.
William Yarrell has a number of species named after him, including the birds yellow-faced siskin and Chilean woodstar and the fish William Yarrell's blenny.