The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Gould, John
Gould, John, F.R.S., was born at Lyme in Dorsetshire, on Sept. 14th, 1804. He was employed under Mr. Aiton at the Royal Gardens, Windsor, from 1818 to 1824. In 1830 he became possessed of a fine collection of birds from the hill countries of India, and the next year published a work descriptive of them, entitled "A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains." Other important ornithological works followed, and in 1837 he issued the great work on the "Birds of Europe." The following year he visited Australia, for the purpose of studying the natural productions of that country. The result of this visit was the "Birds of Australia," a work in seven folio volumes, containing figures and descriptions of upwards of six hundred species. He also published a "Handbook to the Birds of Australia" in 1865. Other great works were "The Birds of Great Britain," and the "Mammals of Australia," those on the "Birds of Asia" and the "Birds of New Guinea" being still unfinished at the time of his death. Mr. Gould devoted much attention to humming-birds, and formed an unrivalled collection, which he exhibited in 1851 at the Zoological Society's Gardens. These, with various other specimens, stuffed with extraordinary skill by Mr. Gould, were in 1882 purchased by the British Museum. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in Jan. 1843, and contributed largely to its proceedings and to other scientific journals. He died in London on Feb. 3rd, 1881.