Ornithology has a venerable history. Worldwide, birds are both culturally important and one of the most salient reminders of the natural world, and beyond their regular appearances in folklore, literature and art they were among the first subjects of natural history from the classical world to the Renaissance. The study of birds remained a fixture of inquiry through the scientific revolution: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the oldest scientific journal still published, included ornithological method papers in its very first volume (Boyle 1666), and as scientific practice developed ornithological research kept pace. A growing interest in the diversity and systematics of birds ultimately led to the formation of dedicated ornithological societies and journals in the second half of the nineteenth century. First were the Society of German Ornithologists (Deutsche OrnithologenGesellschaft) in 1850 and the British Ornithologists’ Union in 1858; their respective journals ‘Journal für Ornithologie’ (now ‘Journal of Ornithology’) and ‘Ibis’ followed in 1853 and 1859. In America, the American Ornithologists’ Union was founded in 1883 with its journal ‘Auk’ beginning the same year, followed by the Wilson Ornithological Society (1886) and Cooper Ornithological Club (1893) and their journals shortly thereafter. The Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union (now part of BirdLife Australia) was founded in 1901, along with its journal ‘Emu’. Amazingly, all these publications are still extant, and digital versions of much of their content are now available back to their first issues. In common with other branches of science, ornithological research has exploded in recent decades, and with this plethora of new work, it is tempting to disregard the older corpus of knowledge, under the assumption that it has either been superseded or is too far removed from modern practice to be useful. However, with over 10 000 extant bird species worldwide and the avifauna of many regions still rarely studied, we would encourage the ornithological community to not overlook earlier literature. In this note, we illustrate the potential interest and value of older studies using three diverse articles published in a single journal issue 100 years ago: volume nineteen of Emu.

中文翻译：

---

我们可以从古代鸟类学中学到什么？

鸟类学有着悠久的历史。在世界范围内，鸟类既具有重要的文化意义，也是对自然世界最显着的提醒之一，除了在民间传说、文学和艺术中经常出现之外，它们还是从古典世界到文艺复兴时期自然历史的首批主题之一。对鸟类的研究仍然是科学革命中的一项探究：皇家学会的哲学汇刊，仍然出版的最古老的科学期刊，在其第一卷（博伊尔 1666 年）中包括鸟类学方法论文，随着科学实践的发展，鸟类学研究保持不变步伐。对鸟类多样性和系统学日益增长的兴趣最终导致了 19 世纪下半叶专门的鸟类学会和期刊的形成。首先是 1850 年的德国鸟类学家协会 (Deutsche OrnithologenGesellschaft) 和 1858 年的英国鸟类学家联盟；他们各自的期刊“Journal für Ornithologie”（现在的“Journal of Ornithology”）和“Ibis”相继于 1853 年和 1859 年出版。在美国，美国鸟类学家联盟成立于 1883 年，同年开始其期刊“Auk”，随后由威尔逊鸟类学会（1886 年）和库珀鸟类学俱乐部（1893 年）以及此后不久的期刊发表。澳大利亚皇家鸟类学家联盟（现为澳大利亚鸟类协会的一部分）与其期刊“鸸鹋”一起成立于 1901 年。令人惊讶的是，所有这些出版物仍然存在，而且它们的大部分内容的数字版本现在都可以返回到它们的第一期。与其他科学分支一样，近几十年来，鸟类学研究呈爆炸式增长，随着大量新工作的出现，人们很容易忽视旧的知识库，假设它要么已被取代，要么与现代实践相去甚远而无用。然而，鉴于全世界现存的鸟类超过 10 000 种，许多地区的鸟类仍然很少被研究，我们鼓励鸟类学界不要忽视早期的文献。在本说明中，我们使用 100 年前发表在单一期刊上的三篇不同的文章来说明旧研究的潜在兴趣和价值：Emu 第 19 卷。假设它要么已被取代，要么与现代实践相去甚远而无用。然而，鉴于全世界现存的鸟类超过 10 000 种，许多地区的鸟类仍然很少被研究，我们鼓励鸟类学界不要忽视早期的文献。在本说明中，我们使用 100 年前发表在单一期刊上的三篇不同的文章来说明旧研究的潜在兴趣和价值：Emu 第 19 卷。假设它要么已被取代，要么与现代实践相去甚远而无用。然而，鉴于全世界现存的鸟类超过 10 000 种，许多地区的鸟类仍然很少被研究，我们鼓励鸟类学界不要忽视早期的文献。在本说明中，我们使用 100 年前发表在单一期刊上的三篇不同的文章来说明旧研究的潜在兴趣和价值：Emu 第 19 卷。