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James Franklin (naturalist)
James Franklin (c. 1783 – 31 August 1834) was a British soldier. He was the brother of Sir John Franklin. James Franklin entered the service of the British East India Company as a cadet in 1805. He served with distinction on various Indian surveys and was elected a member of the Royal Society. He was in the 1st Bengal Cavalry and was an authority on geology. He undertook surveys of the Central Provinces (Vindhya Hills) and collected birds for the Asiatic Society. He collected about 40 species before reaching Benares, and on reaching Saugor he had collected 160 more specimens and made paintings of these. In 1831 Franklin published descriptions of the birds that he had collected. He is now recognised as the taxonomic authority for six species: *White-eyed buzzard *Indian eagle-owl * Rufous-tailed lark * Oriental skylark *Tawny-bellied babbler * Indian spotted creeper The specimens went to the Zoological Society of London but his paintings were stipulated to be returned to the Asiat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French or , meaning mercenary, from , meaning shilling's worth or wage, from or , shilling. The word is also related to the Medieval Latin , meaning soldier (literally, "one having pay"). These words ultimately derive from the Late Latin word , referring to an Ancient Roman coin used in the Byzantine Empire. Occupational designations In most armies use of the word "soldier" has taken on a more general meaning due to the increasing specialization of military occupations that require different areas of knowledge and skill-sets. As a result, "soldiers" are referred to by names or ranks which reflect an individual's military occupation specialty arm, service, or branch of military employment, their type of unit, or operational employment or technic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rufous-tailed Lark
The rufous-tailed lark (''Ammomanes phoenicura''), also sometimes called the rufous-tailed finch-lark, is a ground bird found in the drier open stony habitats of India and parts of Pakistan. Like other species in the genus it has a large finch-like bill with a slightly curved edge to the upper mandible. The dull brown colour matches the soil as it forages for grass seeds, grain and insects. Males and females are indistinguishable in the field but during the breeding season, the male has a courtship display that involves flying up steeply and then nose-diving and pulling up in a series of stepped wavy dips accompanied by calling. They forage on the ground in pairs or small groups. Taxonomy and systematics The rufous-tailed lark was originally placed in the genus ''Mirafra''. Alternate names for the rufous-tailed lark include bar-tailed lark, rufous-tailed desert lark, and rufous-tailed finch-lark. Subspecies Some taxonomists in the past included the bar-tailed lark as a subspecies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fellows Of The Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science, and medical science". Fellowship of the Society, the oldest known scientific academy in continuous existence, is a significant honour. It has been awarded to many eminent scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton (1672), Michael Faraday (1824), Charles Darwin (1839), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), Albert Einstein (1921), Paul Dirac (1930), Winston Churchill (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951), Lise Meitner (1955) and Francis Crick (1959). More recently, fellowship has been awarded to Stephen Hawking (1974), David Attenborough (1983), Tim Hunt (1991), Elizabeth Blackburn (1992), Tim Berners-Lee (2001), Venki Ramakrishnan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British East India Company Army Officers
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1834 Deaths
Events January–March * January – The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is chartered in Wilmington, North Carolina. * January 1 – Zollverein (Germany): Customs charges are abolished at borders within its member states. * January 3 – The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City. * February 13 – Robert Owen organizes the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union in the United Kingdom. * March 6 – York, Upper Canada, is incorporated as Toronto. * March 11 – The United States Survey of the Coast is transferred to the Department of the Navy. * March 14 – John Herschel discovers the open cluster of stars now known as NGC 3603, observing from the Cape of Good Hope. * March 28 – Andrew Jackson is censured by the United States Congress (expunged in 1837). April–June * April 10 – The LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans burns, and Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie flees to France. * April 14 – The Whig Party is officially name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1780s Births
Year 178 ( CLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scipio and Rufus (or, less frequently, year 931 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 178 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Bruttia Crispina marries Commodus, and receives the title of '' Augusta''. * Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus arrive at Carnuntum in Pannonia, and travel to the Danube to fight against the Marcomanni. Asia * Last (7th) year of ''Xiping'' era and start of ''Guanghe'' era of the Chinese Han Dynasty. * In India, the decline of the Kushan Empire begins. The Sassanides take over Central Asia. Religion * The Montanist heresy is condemned for the first time. Births * Lü Meng, Chinese general (d. 220) * Pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commercial, and financial hub of East India, Eastern India and the main port of communication for North-East India. According to the 2011 Indian census, Kolkata is the List of cities in India by population, seventh-most populous city in India, with a population of 45 lakh (4.5 million) residents within the city limits, and a population of over 1.41 crore (14.1 million) residents in the Kolkata metropolitan area, Kolkata Metropolitan Area. It is the List of metropolitan areas in India, third-most populous metropolitan area in India. In 2021, the Kolkata metropolitan area crossed 1.5 crore (15 million) registered voters. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoological Society Of London
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 November 1822, the birthday of John Ray, "the father of modern zoology", a meeting held in the Linnean Society in Soho Square led by Rev. William Kirby, resolved to form a "Zoological Club of the Linnean Society of London". Between 1816 and 1826, discussions between Stamford Raffles, Humphry Davy, Joseph Banks and others led to the idea that London should have an establishment similar to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It would house a zoological collection "which should interest and amuse the public." The society was founded in April 1826 by Sir Stamford Raffles, the Marquess of Lansdowne, Lord Auckland, Sir Humphry Davy, Robert Peel, Joseph Sabine, Nicholas Aylward Vigors along with various other nobility, clergy, and natural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Spotted Creeper
The Indian spotted creeper (''Salpornis spilonota'') is a small passerine bird, which is a member of the subfamily Salpornithinae which is placed along with the treecreepers in the family Certhiidae. This small bird has a marbled black and white plumage that makes it difficult to spot as it forages on the trunks of dark, deeply fissured trees where it picks out insect prey using its curved bill. It is found in patchily distributed localities mainly in the dry scrub and open deciduous forests of northern and central peninsular India. It does not migrate. Their inclusion along with the treecreepers is not certain and some studies find them more closely related to the nuthatches while others suggest a close relation to the wallcreeper. They lack the stiff tail feathers of treecreepers and do not use their tail for supporting them while creeping vertically along tree trunks. Description The Indian spotted creeper has grey and white spotted and barred plumage, clearly different from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tawny-bellied Babbler
The tawny-bellied babbler (''Dumetia hyperythra'') also known in older Indian works as the rufous-bellied babbler is a small babbler that forages in small groups in low scrub forests. Like other members of the large Old World babbler family they are passerine birds characterised by soft fluffy plumage. There are three subspecies within the Indian Subcontinent. The nominate ''hyperythra'' found in northern and eastern India is uniformly brown underneath while ''albogularis'' of the western Indian peninsula is white throated. The population in Sri Lanka, ''phillipsi,'' is also white throated but is paler underneath and has a larger bill. Description The tawny-bellied babbler is a small babbler at 13 cm including its long round-tipped tail. The outer tail feathers are about half the length of the central tail feather. It is dark brown above and orange-buff below, with a rufous grey crown. The feathers on the forehead are stiff and the tail has cross rays and is otherwise oliv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oriental Skylark
The Oriental skylark (''Alauda gulgula''), also known as the small skylark, is a species of skylark found in the southern, central and eastern Palearctic . Like other skylarks, it is found in open grassland where it feeds on seeds and insects. Taxonomy and systematics The Oriental skylark was described by the English soldier and naturalist James Franklin in 1831 and given the binomial name ''Alauda gulgula''. The meaning of the specific epithet ''gulgula'' is uncertain but is perhaps a reference to the song as ''gula'' is Latin for "throat" or may be the color of the "gulgula" or a sweet which looks like doughnut made in many parts of Central India. Other alternate names for the Oriental skylark include eastern skylark, Indian skylark and lesser skylark. Subspecies Thirteen subspecies are recognized: * Kashmir skylark (''A. g. lhamarum'') or Kashmir small skylark - Meinertzhagen, R & Meinertzhagen, A, 1926: Found in the Pamir Mountains and western Himalayas * ''A. g. in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Eagle-owl
The Indian eagle-owl (''Bubo bengalensis''), also called the rock eagle-owl or Bengal eagle-owl, is a large horned owl species native to hilly and rocky scrub forests in the Indian Subcontinent. It is splashed with brown and grey, and has a white throat patch with black small stripes. It was earlier treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl. It is usually seen in pairs. It has a deep resonant booming call that may be heard at dawn and dusk. Taxonomy ''Otus bengalensis'' was the scientific name used by James Franklin in 1831 for an eagle-owl collected in northern India. Description This species is often considered a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl ''Bubo bubo'' and is very similar in appearance. The facial disk is unmarked and has a black border, a feature that is much weaker in the Eurasian form. The base of the primaries is unbanded and rufous. The tail bands have the tawny bands wider than the black ones. A large pale scapular patch is visible on the folded w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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