Swinhoe was born in Calcutta, India. He was educated at the University of London, and in 1854 joined the China consular corps. He spent his spare time in China collecting natural history specimens, and as the area had not previously been open to westerners many of the items he collected were new to science. As he was primarily an ornithologist many of his new discoveries were birds, but he also found new fish, mammals and insects. He returned to England in 1862 with his collection. Many of the birds were first described in John Gould's Birds of Asia (1863).
A number of birds and other animals were named after Swinhoe, including Swinhoe's Storm-petrel, which he first described himself in 1867.
Swinhoe's prolific studies of wildlife on Taiwan have established his position not only as the instigator of the scientific study of the island's birds but also as a major contributor to the theory of evolution proposed by Darwin and Wallace.
This bird was identified by Swinhoe during early 1860 in the region of Hong Kong.
Christina Stronach was the daughter of the missionary Alexander Stronach of Foochow, China, and married Robert Swinhoe in 1862.
Feeds |
Contact