The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 124 ( 4 ): 829 - 834 , 2012 
Ornithological Literature 
Margaret A. Voss. Book Review Editor 
THE FEATHERY TRIBE. By Daniel Lewis. 
Yale University Press. New Haven, Connecticut. 
USA. 2012: 368 pages. 20 black and white 
illustrations. ISBN: 978-0-300-17552-3. $ 49.50 
(hardcover).—Science historian Daniel Lewis set 
out to write a biography ot Robert Ridgway 
(1850-1929), the Smithsonian's first curator ol 
birds. Apparently finding that material about Ridg- 
way would not fill a book. Lewis used Ridgway to 
illustrate the transformation ol ornithology trom 
the lyrical, poetic, and artistic study ol birds to 
a scientific discipline. The material provided by 
Lewis about Ridgway is rather fiat and superficial. 
Little about the man's personality or temperament 
is given, other than a number of statements about 
his nearly crippling shyness. Perhaps this shyness, 
combined with the time-intensive production of two 
enomious works, a staggering number of papers, 
and a small mountain of popular literature, limited 
interaction with his colleagues, family, and friends: 
little is visible in this book. He apparently did not 
commit his thoughts to diaries or an extensive 
correspondence. A few mentions of constant 
struggle for money constitute the only personal 
color. The most significant personal event ot 
Ridgway's life-the death of his only son-seemingly 
had little impact on Ridgway's daily file and career 
trajectory, except perhaps an increase in the alt early 
intense focus on work. 
For lack of sufficient material about Ridgway. 
the book moiphs into an analysis of the develop¬ 
ment of professional, scientific ornithology m the 
second half of the 19th century as seen through 
the lens of Ridgway. Elliott Coues, Joel Allen, 
and the few others who constituted the innet cite c 
of the nascent American Ornithologists’ Union. 
After the first chapter—the basic outlines of 
Ridgway's family, life before the Smithsonian 
and into the survey work that ultimately brought 
him to the Smithsonian—Ridgway makes scant 
appearances until a chapter about bird pub ica 
tions that describes, inter alia, the writing ot his 
epic Birds of North America, modestly known as 
Bulletin 50. The final of the seven chapters 
recounts Ridgway's effort to standardize the 
colors of birds. That Ridgway’s life and contri¬ 
butions are secondary is reflected in the title, 
which reduces Ridgway to a subtitle and casts him 
instead as a member of a 'leathery tribe. 
The preface posits (page xv) that Ridgway s 
career embodied the transition between the “lei- 
surelv and aesthetic-driven pursuit of bird collect¬ 
ing and the later study of the living bird.' Ridgway 
spanned the two eras and the rigorous taxonomic 
and nomenclature work of his era formed the 
critical bridge, but at least as told here, his life and 
work seem isolated from the people and events ol 
his profession at that time. The transformation, as 
argued repeatedly throughout the book was 
demarcated bv the development ol formal schemes 
of classification that were accurate and non- 
speculative. Uncertainty and re-classification per¬ 
sisted and new systems of classification emerged, 
but Lewis refers to the underpinning of classification 
with the Darwinian principle of common descent. 
The establishment of authority—recognized sys¬ 
tems of classification, nomenclature, and proce¬ 
dure that all would follow—and accountability to 
colleagues and institutions also characterized the 
new era. Finally, the emergence of a specialized 
vocabulary and the use of technical terminology 
distinguished the professionals from the broader 
group of individuals who observed birds and wiote 
about their observations. Ridgway personified a 1 
three of these hallmarks. His checklists-^ 
individually and later as a member of the AOU 
committee-together with his exhaustive dassifi- 
cation of the birds of North and M.ddle America 
exemplified both authority and the use ot evolu¬ 
tionary classification. Ridgway's use ot technics 
language in Bulletin 50 drew one harsh review that 
complained of the obtuse language even as his 
colleagues celebrated the technical writing. 
An earlier biography of Ridgway (Harris 19-8, 
Condor 30:5-118) published during Ridgway s 
lifetime also noted that Ridgway was little-known 
and avoided the public stage. What is known of 
Ridgway's early years appears in both accounts: 
born in 1850 to a family in rural Illinois as the 
oldest of 10. little formal education, and parents 
who had misgivings about their son s intense 
focus on birds and the likelihood of actually 
building a career on this obsession. Ridgway’s 
father inadvertently fostered his son’s interest in 
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