Michael Patrick Stuart Irwin (1925Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2014). The Eponym Dictionary of Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing. , p 278 – 13 September 2017)''Obituary'' in ''The Babbler'', No. 138, Oct–Nov 2017, p 3 was a British-Rhodesian ornithologist.

Biography

Irwin was born in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

and moved to

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally k ...

(now

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

) in 1949 where he met

Reay Smithers Reay ( gd, Ràth) is a village which has grown around Sandside Bay on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. It is within the historic Parish of Reay and the historic county of Caithness. The village is on the A836 road som ...

, then director of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

, and soon became collector with the museum. In 1959 he was assistant curator of vertebrates, subsequently curator of ornithology, in 1975 regional director in Bulawayo, and finally associate ornithologist, and as of 2012 a natural history librarian in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

.The Museums Renowned Past Curators
/ref> Irwin worked closely with

Constantine Walter Benson Constantine Walter Benson OBE (2 February 1909 – 21 September 1982) was a British ornithologist and author of over 350 publications. He is considered the last of a line of British Colonial officials that made significant contributions to ornith ...

, an authority on central African birds. Together, they expanded the bird collection of the

Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe The Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe is located in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Leopold Takawira Avenue. Officially opened in 1964, the museum contains exhibits illustrating the history, mineral wealth and wildlife of Zimbabwe, including the sec ...

until it became the largest both in Africa and in the southern hemisphere. It currently housed over 90,000 specimens from Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries and is one of the museum's greatest resources. In 1981, Irwin published his best known work ''The Birds of Zimbabwe'', but he had previously published the ''Bibliography of the Birds of Rhodesia'' in 1978, and co-authored ''A Checklist of Birds of Southern Rhodesia'' (with Reay Smithers) in 1957 and ''The Birds of Zambia'' (with Constantine Walter Benson) in 1971. He contributed also to ''

The Birds of Africa :"The Birds of Africa" ''is also a five-volume handbook by George Ernest Shelley, published 1896-1912.'' ''The Birds of Africa'' is an eight-volume ornithological handbook. Its authors/editors are C. Hilary Fry, Stuart Keith and Emil Urban, a ...

'' series (with Emil K. Urban, Stuart Keith and C. Hilary Fry) and has published more than 300 scientific papers, many of them in the museum's journal ''Arnoldia''. Irwin described the subspecies ''Spizocorys conirostris crypta'' of the pink-billed lark in 1957, the subspecies ''Eremopterix verticalis khama'' of the

grey-backed sparrow-lark The grey-backed sparrow-lark (''Eremopterix verticalis'') or grey-backed finch-lark is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in southern and south-central Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland ...

in 1957, the subspecies ''Calamonastes stierlingi pinto'' of the

Stierling's wren-warbler Stierling's wren-warbler (''Calamonastes stierlingi''), is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae found in southern Africa. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the miombo wren-warbler The miombo wren-warbler (''Calamonastes und ...

in 1960, and together with Benson the subspecies ''Eremopterix verticalis harti'' in 1965 and the subspecies ''Mirafra fasciolata reynoldsi'' of the

eastern clapper lark The eastern clapper lark (''Mirafra fasciolata'') is a small passerine bird which breeds in southern Africa. It derives its name from the wing clapping which forms part of its display flight. Taxonomy and systematics The Eastern clapper lark was ...

in 1965. In collaboration with

Phillip Clancey Phillip Alexander Clancey (26 September 1917 – 18 July 2001) was a leading authority on the ornithology of South Africa. Background and education Phillip Clancey was born, brought up and educated in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied at the Gl ...

he described the monotypic genus ''Arcanator'' for the

dapple-throat The dapple-throat (''Arcanator orostruthus'') is a species of bird in the small African family Modulatricidae. Other common names include dappled mountain robin and dappled mountain greenbul. It is native to Mozambique and Tanzania. This is the ...

in 1986.P. A. Clancey & M. P. S. Irwin (1986): ''A new generic status for the Dappled Mountain robin'' Bulletin Br. Orn. Club 106 (3), p 111-115 Irwin was editor of ''Honeyguide'', an ornithological journal of Bird Life Zimbabwe, for 24 years. In May 2017, he had a severe fall and in September 2017 he died from the consequences of a

hip fracture A hip fracture is a break that occurs in the upper part of the femur (thigh bone). Symptoms may include pain around the hip, particularly with movement, and shortening of the leg. Usually the person cannot walk. They most often occur as a re ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Michael Patrick Stuart British ornithologists 1925 births 2017 deaths British emigrants to Rhodesia