
	History & Special Collections UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library 12-077 CHS, Box 951798 UCLA Los Angeles, CA 90095-1798 Tel: 310/825-6940 Fax: 310/825-0465

Charles Darwin - Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle-Birds

Charles Darwin boarded the H.M.S. Beagle and set sail on 27 December 1831 for an around the world voyage that would last almost five years; the Beagle returned home in 1836, landing at Falmouth, England, on 2nd of October. After his return, he turned to the task of reporting on his findings . The Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., during the years 1832 to 1836. : Published with the approval of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. : Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin, Esq. ... was completed and published in London by Smith, Elder and Co. from 1839-1843. The work consisted of 5 volumes covering fossil mammalia, mammalia, birds, fish, and reptiles. Darwin collaborated with experts for each of the volumes: Fossil Mammalia - Richard Owen; Mammalia - George B. Waterhouse; Birds - John and Elizabeth Gould; Fish - Leonard Jenyns; Reptiles - Thomas Bell. There are plans to include selections from all of the works in this series in the near future.

Darwin selected John Gould to help him write up the birds:

"When I presented my collection of Birds to the Zoological Society, Mr. Gould kindly undertook to furnish me with descriptions of the new species and names of those already known...The accompanying illustrations, which are fifty in number, were taken from sketches made by Mr. Gould himself, and executed on stone by Mrs. [Elizabeth] Gould, with that admirable success, which has attended all her works. They are all of the natural size with the exception of four raptorial birds, a goose and a species of Rhea."

The Rhea was first mistaken for an undergrown ostrich by the expedition artist who shot and cooked one. Darwin, realizing it was different, salvaged the head, neck, feathers, and skin. Gould described it as a new species, Rhea darwinii. It is the only work amongst the many done by Gould, in which all of the illustrations are by the Goulds themselves.

We have chosen the Bird volume for our first Digital Sketch in Natural History. The illustrations are wonderful and colorful and the birds proved to be very important in helping Darwin form his ideas on evolution and speciation. This first phase of the project covers the family Muscicapidae, consisting of six pages of text (presented as image files to preserve the original "feel" of the work) and three hand-colored lithographs by John and Elizabeth Gould. This volume is housed in the History & Special Collections Division under the call number RARE {*}QL 689 A1 G733b 1841.

Charles Darwin - Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle-Birds

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