Walter Goodfellow (1866–1953) was a British zoological collector and

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 ...

Career

Goodfellow began his career as a wildlife collector by collecting specimens for

museums A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

, but later concentrated on capturing live birds for private aviaries. He took great care of his caged birds, often releasing those which appeared distressed, and refused to participate in the extensive trade in dead birds for women's fashions. Over forty years of collecting expeditions he travelled through Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and Melville Island, off northern

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 ...

.Mearns & Mearns (1998), p.345.

Mikado pheasant

Goodfellow's best-known ornithological achievement was the scientific discovery of the

Mikado pheasant The Mikado pheasant (''Syrmaticus mikado'') is a species of gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Sometimes considered an unofficial ''national bird'' of Taiwan (along with the Swinhoe's phea ...

in the central mountain ranges of Taiwan and its introduction to

aviculture Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds, especially of wild birds in captivity. Aviculture Aviculture is the practice of keeping birds (class '' Aves'') in captivity in controlled conditions, normally within the confines of a ...

. In about 1906 he secured the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

, comprising two long black tail feathers obtained from one of his

porters Porters may refer to: * Porters, Virginia, an unincorporated community in Virginia, United States * Porters, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community in Wisconsin, United States * Porters Ski Area, a ski resort in New Zealand * Porters (TV series), '' ...

who was wearing them in a head-dress. On a later visit to Taiwan he obtained eleven live birds, eight males and three females, which were taken to Britain and bred successfully in captivity.Beebe (1990).

Recognition

Birds and other animals named for Goodfellow include the

Apo myna The Apo myna (''Goodfellowia miranda'') is a species of starling in the starling family Sturnidae. The species is also known as the Mount Apo starling or the Mount Apo king starling. It is the only member of the genus ''Goodfellowia''. It is e ...

(''Goodfellowia miranda''), Taiwan firecrest (''Regulus goodfellowi''), the Taiwan shortwing (''Brachypteryx goodfellowi''), slaty-backed jungle-flycatcher (''Rhinomyias goodfellowi''), black-masked white-eye (''Lophozosterops goodfellowi''), Goodfellow's tuco-tuco (''Ctenomys goodfellowi''), and

Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus goodfellowi''), also called the ornate tree-kangaroo, is an endangered, long-tailed mammal native to rainforests of New Guinea. Like most tree-kangaroos (genus '' Dendrolagus''), it lives in the treetops ...

(''Dendrolagus goodfellowi''). The lyre-tailed king bird of paradise was described by Ogilvie-Grant in 1907 with the

binomen In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

of ''Cicinnurus goodfellowi'', though it has subsequently been found to be a hybrid.

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