Mobile Menu Open Mobile Menu Close
back back back

Bird collections made by the Cheeseman family: a record of the avifauna of Auckland, New Zealand, in the late 19th century

  • Publication Type

    Journal

  • Publication Year

    2007

  • Author(s)

    B.J. Gill

  • Journal Name

    Notornis

  • Volume, Issue

    54, 4

  • Pagination

    189-196

  • Article Type

    Paper

  • DOI

    https://doi.org/10.63172/883991qaxoiq

Keywords

19th century specimens; Auckland; brown kiwi; Emma Cheeseman; fairy tern; Kokako; W.J. Cheeseman


Bird collections made by the Cheeseman family: a record of the avifauna of Auckland, New Zealand, in the late 19th century

Notornis, 54 (4), 189-196

B.J. Gill (2007)

Article Type: Paper

Attachment


Download

Collections of bird specimens assembled by T.F. Cheeseman’s family in the late 1800s and early 1900s, are well-documented as to collecting localities and dates of collection. They provide a record of bird-life in the Auckland, New Zealand, region at that time. An inventory of the Auckland specimens is given, as well as information on 2 of Cheeseman’s siblings: William Joseph Cheeseman, who collected (i.e. shot) birds; and Emma Cheeseman, who prepared study skins. Of greatest interest among the bird specimens are species no longer present at the localities near Auckland city at which they were collected, including brown kiwis (Apteryx mantelli) at Waitakere (1881), brown teal (Anas chlorotis) at Ellerslie (1878) and Remuera (1880, 1886), fairy terns (Sterna nereis) at Orakei (1878), kokako (Callaeas wilsoni) at Titirangi (1878), and fernbirds (Bowdleria punctata) (1878) and pipits (Anthus novaeseelandiae) (1887) at Remuera. It would be very unusual to see black-fronted terns (Sterna albostriata) at the Manukau Harbour (recorded in 1879), and black stilts (Himantopus novaezelandiae) at Mangere (recorded in 1879) today.