James Davidson (ornithologist)

James Davidson FZS (1849-1925) was a Scottish naturalist in colonial India. He was born at Maryhill near Glasgow and studied at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities. He served in the Bombay Presidency after entering the Indian Civil Services and retired in 1897. During this time, he wrote extensively about the birds of the regions of present-day Uttara Kannada, Satara and Belgaum, corresponding with Allan Octavian Hume, to whom he gave his bird collection. He wrote numerous notes to Stray Feathers, the Journal started by Hume as well as to the journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.

Publications

• Davidson,J (1886) Bird nesting on the ghats. JBNHS. 1(4):175-183.
• Davidson,J (1908) On the nesting habits of the Small Indian Spotted Eagle Aquila hastata. JBNHS. 18(3):682-683.
• Davidson,J (1904) The eggs of the Small Sun-bird Arachnothera minima. JBNHS. 15(4):726.
• Davidson,J (1898) The birds of North Kanara. Part II. JBNHS. 12(1):43-72.
• Davidson,J (1898) The birds of North Kanara. JBNHS. 11(4):652-679.
• Davidson,J (1895) The birds of the Bombay Presidency. JBNHS. 9(4):488-489.
• Davidson,J (1891) Notes on nidification in Kanara. JBNHS. 6(3):331-340.
• Davidson,J (1874) Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 2(1,2&3):336.
• Davidson,J (1878) Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 7(1-2):172.
• Davidson,J (1879) Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 8(2-5):414.
• Davidson,J (1880) Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 9(1,2&3):236.
• Davidson,J (1882) Rough list of the birds of western Khandesh. Stray Feathers. 10(4):279-327.
• Davidson,J (1898) A short trip to Kashmir. Ibis, 7:41-42.
• Davidson,J (1885) Notes on the birds of Khandeish and Nasik. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Unpublished manuscript in BMNH archives, Tring, U.K.
• Davidson,J (1879) Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 8(2-5):415-416.

References

• Obituary. Ibis 1925:919-920
• Warr, F. E. 1996. Manuscripts and Drawings in the ornithology and Rotschild libraries of The Natural History Museum at Tring. BOC.