Peter R. Colston (born 1935) is an English

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. Colston was Senior Curator at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

until his retirement in 1995. He joined the staff of the museum in 1961, and made collecting trips to

Andalucia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It i ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. He became an expert on African birds, publishing description of four new species, including Appert's greenbul. Between 1989 and 1995 he made private trips to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, with

Per Alström ''Per'' Johan Alström (born 9 April 1961) is a Swedish Professor of ornithology. He does research in Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, systematics, and evolution, with birds in Asia as a specialty. Alström works at the Department of Ecology and Genet ...

and Urban Olsson, where they discovered three previously undescribed ''Phylloscopus'' warblers.

Works

*''A Field Guide to the Rare Birds of Britain & Europe'' (with

Ian Lewington Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a popu ...

and Per Alström) *''The Waders of Britain and Europe'' (with Philip Burton) *''BIRDS of MOUNT NIMBA West Africa LIBERIA (1986) (with Kai Curry-Lindahl)

References

*Beolens, B. & Watkins, M. - ''Whose Bird?'' 1935 births Living people English ornithologists English curators {{UK-ornithologist-stub