# Elsa Guerdrum Allen

Elsa Guerdrum Allen (May 19, 1888 – January 29, 1969) was an American ornithologist, lecturer, author and historian of ornithology. She is noteworthy for her 1951 book The history of American ornithology before Audubon.

## Quotes

* Topsell's work, 'Fowles of Heaven' is primarily a treatise on European birds, but it lists seventeen American species which in various ways had become knwon to the author, although he never visited Amerca. The subject of the present paper, in contrast to Topsell's account, represents work, done in America, by a painter, one John White, also called John With, ... who, as artist and draughtsman, accompanied Sir Thomas Hariot in 1585 on that ill-starred expedition sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh to found an Enlgish colony in America. He was chosen by Queen Elizabeth for the express purpose of studying and painting the aborigines and "natural products" of this far country. John White thus becomes the first man, so far as is known, to observe American birds in their native haunts, and to leave a pictorial record in colours of his observations.
** (January 1936)"Some Sixteenth Century Paintings of American Birds". The Auk 53 (1): 17–21. DOI:10.2307/4077351.
* … all the men for whom Catesby collected, except perhaps Sir Hans Sloane, were primarily botanists, and Catesby's main task in America was the collecting of botanical specimens. Botany was the great science of the day and zoology in all its branches had to take second place. But the fact remains that Catesby somehow managed to do a great work on birds, covering about one hundred species, first depicted in the field with each one's particular plant or tree associate, and later etched or colored by himself or under his direction in England.
** (July 1937)"New Light on Mark Catesby". The Auk 54 (issue 3, article 14): 349–363. (quote from p. 357)
* … Jaques Le Moyne … was chosen by Coligny, as the latter said, "to make an accurate description and map of the country and drawings of all curious objects." … Le Moyne is known also to have written an account of his stay in America. This narrative, 'Brevis Narratorio,' forms the second part of Theodore De Bry's collection of 'Great Voyages' and was published in 1591. It is illustrated by drawings done by Le Moyne, most of which represent the Indians, their customs and ceremonies, and many depict the barbarous treatment of the Huguenots by the neighboring Catholic settlers of New Spain or Florida. But it is of particular interest to us that one of the large illustrations of the 'Brevis Narratorio' includes several figures of Wild Turkeys …, one of which is represented in full display with spread tail, dropped wings and drooping wattle. Alligators, manatees, stags and shells also are pictured in the same scene, as well as the natives' method of stalking wild animals by disguising themselves under deer hides.
** (January 1938)"Jaques Le Moyne, First Zoological Artist in America". The Auk 55 (issue 1, article 13): 106–111. (quote from p. 107)
* The massed flocks of wild ducks appealed as a ready food supply and were easily seen by incoming vessels in the harbors. Land birds, on the other hand, were shy and silent, and at the approach of man slipped without sound deeper into the forest.
** The History of American Ornithology Before Audubon. American Philosophical Society. 1951. p. 449. (205 pages, more than 50 illustrations; 1979 reprint, published by W. Graham Arader, ISBN 0934626006)

## External links

* Encyclopedic article on Elsa Guerdrum Allen on Wikipedia