Ernst Johann Otto Hartert (29 October 1859 – 11 November 1933) was a widely published

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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 ...

Life and career

Hartert was born in the

Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and 7th-largest in the European Union with a population of over 1.9 million. The Hamburg Metropolitan Region has a ...

on 29 October 1859. In July 1891, he married the illustrator

Claudia Bernadine Elisabeth Hartert Claudia Bernadine Elisabeth Hartert (21 June 1863 – 24 August 1958) was a British/German ornithologist and illustrator. She was a British citizen born in the Kingdom of Prussia. Biography Born Claudia Endris (or Endriss) (21 June 1863 in Coe ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Germany, with whom he had a son named Joachim Karl (Charles) Hartert, (1893–1916), who was killed as an English soldier on the Somme. Together with his wife, he was the first to describe the blue-tailed Buffon hummingbird subspecies (''Chalybura buffonii intermedia'' Hartert, E & Hartert, C, 1894). The article ''On a collection of Humming Birds from Ecuador and Mexico'' appears to be their only joint publication. Hartert was employed by

Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoology, zoologist, and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he wa ...

as ornithological

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of Rothshild's private

Natural History Museum at Tring The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild; today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum, London. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptil ...

, in England from 1892 to 1929. Hartert

publish Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

ed the quarterly museum periodical ''

Novitates Zoologicae ''Novitates Zoologicae: A Journal of Zoology in Connection With the Tring Museum'' was a British scientific journal devoted to systematic zoology. It was edited by Lionel Walter Rothschild and published between 1894 and 1948 by the Tring Museum ...

'' (1894–39) with Rothschild, and the ''Hand-List of British Birds'' (1912) with

Francis Charles Robert Jourdain Francis Charles Robert Jourdain M.A., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. (4 March 1865 – 27 February 1940), known as Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, was a notable British amateur ornithologist and oologist. He was primarily known for his extensive research into the b ...

Norman Frederick Ticehurst Norman Frederic Ticehurst (1 July 1873 – 5 December 1969) was an English surgeon and ornithologist. He was involved in documenting the birds of Kent and of the British Isles in collaboration with others like Ernst Hartert, F. C. R. Jourdain and ...

and

Harry Forbes Witherby Harry Forbes Witherby, MBE, FZS, MBOU (7 October 1873 – 11 December 1943) was a noted British ornithologist, author, publisher and founding editor (in 1907) of the magazine ''British Birds''. Personal life Harry was the second surviving ...

. He wrote ''Die Vögel der paläarktischen Fauna'' (1910–22) and travelled in

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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on behalf of his employer. Although Hartert supported the conservation of some species of birds, he wrote a pamphlet in 1900 in which he supported the control of house sparrows. In 1930, Hartert retired to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, where he died in 1933. Hartert had been a mentor to

Erwin Stresemann Erwin Friedrich Theodor Stresemann (22 November 1889, in Dresden – 20 November 1972, in East Berlin) was a German naturalist and ornithologist. Stresemann was an ornithologist of extensive breadth who compiled one of the first and most comprehe ...

, whose cremated remains were interred at Hartert's grave in 1972.

Works

Among the written publications of Ernst Hartert are:A complete list of Hartert's publications is contained in Hartert's obituary, . *(1891). ''Katalog der Vogelsammlung im Museum der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main''. *(1897). ''Podargidae, Caprimulgidae und Macropterygidae''. *(1897). ''Das Tierreich''. *(1900). ''Trochilidae''. *(1902). ''Aus den Wanderjahren eines Naturforschers: Reisen und Forschungen in Afrika, Asien und Amerika, nebst daran anknüpfenden, meist ornithologischen Studien''. *(1903). ''Ueber die Pipriden-Gattung Masius Bp.'' *(1910–1922). ''Die Vögel der paläarktischen Fauna: Systematische Übersicht der in Europa, Nord-asien und der Mittelmeerregion vorkommenden Vögel''. Three volumes. * *(1920). ''Die Vögel Europas''.

Eponyms

A species of lizard, ''

Hemiphyllodactylus harterti ''Hemiphyllodactylus harterti'', also known commonly as the Bintang slender gecko, Hartert's slender gecko, and Werner's gypsy gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is endemic to Peninsular Malaysia. Etymology The ...

'', and 12 birds are named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Hartert", p. 117).

References

Sources

External links

1859 births 1933 deaths German ornithologists Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Scientists from Hamburg {{Ornithologist-stub