Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Butler (4 July 1843 – 16 April 1916) was an English

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

officer. He is commemorated in the scientific specific name for the

Omani owl The Omani owl (''Strix butleri'') is an owl of the genus ''Strix'' found in shrubland and rocky areas of Oman, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. It was discovered in 2013. After the distinctive Omani owl was discovered, a similar-looking ow ...

, ''Strix butleri''. Butler was born at Coton House, Churchover,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and studied at Eton. He joined the army at the age of 21, and served in Gibraltar,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. He retired in 1884 as a

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the

Royal Irish Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County ...

. He married Clara Francis Butler in 1872 and had three sons, Charles Edward, Harry Francis, and Arthur Lennox. His son

Arthur Lennox Butler Arthur Lennox Butler (22 February 1873 – 29 December 1939) was a British naturalist. Born in Karachi, he became a curator of a natural history museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He later became the superintendent of a game preserve in Sudan be ...

was also an ornithologist, and had four

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of reptiles named in his honor, including the Australian

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a ...

ous snake, ''

Chilorhinophis butleri ''Chilorhinophis butleri'', also known commonly as Butler's black-and-yellow burrowing snake and Butler's two-headed snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Atractaspididae. The species is endemic to East Africa. Geographic range ' ...

''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Butler, A. L.", p. 44). Butler was a keen bird collector and taxidermist. His collections were acquired by the Natural History Museum in part directly and also through the collections of

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, CB ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British civil servant, political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India. He was the founder of the Indian National Congress. A notable ornithologist, Hu ...

, Lord Rothschild and others.Warr, Frances E. (1997). ''Manuscripts and Drawings in the Ornithology and Rothschild Libraries of The Natural History Museum at Tring''. London: British Ornithologists' Club. 100 pp. .

References

External links

A catalogue of the birds of Sind, Cutch, Kaʹthiaʹwaʹr, North Gujarat, and Mount Aboo (1879)
Butler, Edward Arthur Butler, Edward Arthur Butler, Edward Arthur

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some al ...

19th-century biologists 19th-century English people {{UK-ornithologist-stub