Yule Mervyn Charles McCann (4 December 1899 – 29 November 1980) was a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and New Zealand. He wrote a popular book on the trees of India and edited a major regional flora apart from publishing many of his other observations, mainly in the journal of the

Bombay Natural History Society The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants and publ ...

(BNHS) that he was associated with. He contributed to studies of New Zealand's whales, seals, skinks and geckos.

Early life

Born at

Castle Rock Castle Rock may refer to: Geography Islands * Castle Rock (Alaska), an island off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska * Castle Rock, Hong Kong, an island of Hong Kong, part of the Po Toi Islands * Castle Rock (Massachusetts), an island in th ...

in India, his exposure to the wilderness during his childhood in the forests of the Goa area shaped his lifelong interest in natural history: He studied at St. Mary's High school at Mazagaon in Bombay (now

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

) and worked for a while under Father

Ethelbert Blatter Ethelbert Blatter (15 December 1877 – 26 May 1934) was a Swiss people, Swiss Jesuit priest and pioneering botanist in British India. Author of five books and over sixty papers on the flora of the Indian subcontinent, he was Principal and Profes ...

at St. Xavier's College as a laboratory assistant and curator. During 1916-1920 he worked under Blatter on botany. He briefly worked with the Bombay city police and then joined the

(BNHS) as a collector for the Mammal Survey. He worked on the survey around 1921–22 in the

Palni Hills The Palani Hills are a mountain range in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Palani Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palani Hills adjoin with ...

and also in the

Indus delta The Indus River Delta forms where the Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea, mostly in the southern Sindh province of Pakistan with a small portion in the Kutch Region of India. The delta covers an area of about , and is approximately across ...

areas.

Career

McCann became the Assistant Curator and served as editor of the Journal of the BNHS. He was involved in the development of the Natural History galleries of the Prince of Wales Museum of Bombay. He was a prolific writer and published 200 articles and papers in the Journal of the BNHS, covering plants, birds, mammals and insects. He was also a fellow of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

. In 1946 he resigned his post at the BNHS and migrated to New Zealand. The executive committee of the Bombay Natural History Society noted: In

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

he joined the Dominion Museum (now

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

) at Wellington as a Vertebrate Zoologist. He became interested in the whale and seal collections as well as deep-sea fishes. He also made significant contributions to New Zealand herpetology. The BNHS instituted the Charles McCann Vertebrate Fieldwork Fund in his memory to promote field research.

Family

McCann married Eleanor Mary Allen (b. 1906) and they had three children Carlyle (“Carl”) Ethelbert McCann (1928–1995), Trevor Ian McCann (1930–2006) and Marie Dolores McCann (1934–2005). After the death of Eleanor in 1956 he married Muriel Florence Mottershead and they had a son Robbie McCann.

Publications

A partial list of publications. ;Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society * (1930) Nidification of Storks. JBNHS. 34(2):579-581. * (1931) Courtship of the Scarlet Minivet (''Pericrocotus speciosus''). JBNHS. 34(4):1061-1062. * (1931) Notes on the Whistling School Boy or Malabar Whistling Thrush (''Myiophoneus horsfieldi'', Vigors). JBNHS. 35(1):202-204. * (1932) Notes on the nesting habits of the Red-vented Bulbul (''Molpastes cafer''). JBNHS. 35(3):680-681. * (1936) The Short-eared Owl ''Asio flammeus'' (Pontopp.) out at sea. JBNHS. 38(3):623-624. * (1940) A note on the Alpine Swift (''Micropus melba bakeri'' Hartert). JBNHS. 42(1):198-199. * Hughes, A R & McCann, C (1939) On the road to Gersoppa and back. JBNHS. 41:446. * (1932) Nestling of the Indian Pied Kingfisher ('' Ceryle rudis'') attacked by larvae of parasitic fly. JBNHS. 35(4):897-898. * (1933) The Brown Hawk-owl (''

Ninox scutulata The brown boobook (''Ninox scutulata''), also known as the brown hawk-owl, is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal east to western Indonesia and south China. This species is a part o ...

'' Raffles) feeding on bats. JBNHS. 36(4):1002-1003. * (1937) Curious behaviour of the Jungle Crow ('' Corvus macrorhynchus'') and the White-backed Vulture (''Gyps bengalensis''). JBNHS. 39(4):864. * (1937) The distribution of the White-eared Bulbul (''Molpastes leucogenys leucotis'' (Gould)) in the swamps near the Vaitarna River. JBNHS. 39(4):864-865. * (1937) The breeding of the Little Green Bittern ('' Butorides striatus javanicus'') in Salsette Island. JBNHS. 39(4):869-870. * (1939) The Flamingo ('' Phoenicopterus ruber antiquorum'' Temm.). JBNHS. 41(1):12-38. * (1941) Vultures and palms. JBNHS. 42(2):439-440. * (1941) Curious nesting site of the Red-wattled Lapwing (''Lobivanellus indicus indicus'' Bodd.). JBNHS. 42(2):439-440. * (1947) Flamingoes in Kutch-a comment. JBNHS. 47(1):164-166. * (1954) Birds associating natural phenomena with food supply. JBNHS. 52(2-3):607-609. * (1955) Has the Cuckoo a protrusible ovipositor? JBNHS. 52(4):931-932. * (1942) A 'busman's' holiday in the Abu Hills. JBNHS. 43(2):206-217. * (1941) Two naturalists visit Karwar, North Kanara. JBNHS. 42(3):602-610. * (1943) The rains come to the Abu hills. JBNHS. 43(4):641-647. * On the Breeding Habits of some Myriapoda. JBNHS. 26: 303–4. * A note on the Habits of the Large-scaled Earth Snake (''Silybura macrolepis'') JBNHS 29: 1062–3. * Occurrence of the worm-like Batrachian ''Ichthyophis monochrous'' at Khandala, Poona District. JBNHS 31: 1039. * The Study of Plant Life—(3 parts) Vols. JBNHS 32: 692–703 (2 plates & 5 text-figures) and JBNHS 33: 35–46, 262–278. * Notes on the Flowering of ''

Strobilanthes callosus ''Strobilanthes callosa'' ''(Synonym: Carvia callosa (Nees) Bremek)'' is a shrub found mainly in the low lying hills of the Western Ghats, all along the west coast of India.

'' JBNHS 34: 264–65. * Notes on some wild species of Aroids JBNHS 34: 518–21. * On the Fertilization of the Flowers of the Sausage-Tree ('' Kigelia pinnata'') by Bats JBNHS 35: 467–71. * Notes on Indian Batrachians (10 plates, 2 text-figures) JBNHS 36: 152–80. * Notes on the Flying Fox (''

Pteropus giganteus The Indian flying fox (''Pteropus medius''), also known as the greater Indian fruit bat, is a species of flying fox native to the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the largest bats in the world. It is of interest as a disease vector, as it is ca ...

'') JBNHS 37: 143–49. * Notes on the Common Land Crab (''Paratelphusa guerini'') of Salsette. JBNHS 39: 531. * The Flamingo (''Phoenicopterus ruber antiquorum'' Temm.) (7 plates) JBNHS 41: 21–38. * A Reptile and Amphibian Miscellany. 2 parts. (15 plates 3 text-figures) JBNHS 41: 742–64; JBNHS 42: 45–64. * Two naturalists visit Karwar, N. Kanara (1 plate) JBNHS 42: 602–10. * The Rains come to the Abu Hills. (with a plate) JBNHS 43: 641–47. With Blatter, REV. E., S. J. Ph.D., F.I.S. * Revision of the Flora of the Bombay Presidency—16 parts Vols. JBNHS 32–36. * Two new Species of Grasses from Panchgani (Satara District) JBNHS 32: 357–58. * Some new species of Plants from the Western Ghats. JBNHS 32: 733–36. * A New ''Ceropegia'' from the Western Ghats. JBNHS 34: 936. * Another new ''Ceropegia'' from the Western Ghats. JBNHS 35: 409. ;Books * (1959) 100 Beautiful trees of India

References

External links

Blatter, E; Charles McCann (1935) Bombay grasses. ICAR, Delhi.
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCann, Charles British naturalists 1899 births 1980 deaths Naturalists from British India British emigrants to New Zealand People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 20th-century naturalists Members of the Bombay Natural History Society British people in colonial India