Although Charles Darwin had no formal training in ornithology, the collections of birds he made during his time on the Beagle, breeding experiments he did with his own chickens and pigeons, and observations he made on various habits of birds earn him a place of honor alongside more traditionally trained avian researchers.
Darwin sent back nearly 500 bird specimens from the Beagle voyage, and 38 new bird species were described on the basis of these specimens.
Darwin did not identify the birds himself, but delegated that task to John Gould, the preeminent ornithologist of his day. Even so, the birds that showed variation from island to island in the Galapagos archipelago bear the name “Darwin’s finches” in honor of the man who collected them and explained the significance of their inter-island variation as a manifestation of natural selection.
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