Heinrich Agathon Bernstein

Heinrich Agathon Bernstein ( born September 22, 1828 in Breslau, † April 18, 1865 at Salawati ) was a German ornithologist, naturalist and bird collectors.

Life and work

Bernstein was the son of a physician and orientalist. After studying medicine and science he has been director of a sanatorium in 1854 Gadok on Java. During this time he studied the Javanese avifauna and wrote posts to about 70 species. He could for the first time provide evidence material from which the edible swallows' nests are built by studies of the salivary glands of the swiftlets. Between 1859 and 1864 he wrote in the Journal of Ornithology important contributions to bird eggs and bird nests. 1859 Hermann Schlegel, the former Director of the Natural History Museum in Leiden on Bernstein 's attention. On behalf of the Dutch government, he traveled to zoogeographical expeditions to New Guinea. Bernstein chose Ternate as a base and 1861-1863 he explored many islands of the northern Moluccas. In 1864 he sailed to collect birds of paradise again to New Guinea. In January 1865, he was, however, caught up in bloody battles with the natives, and had to withdraw from the country. Soon after, he contracted a tropical disease where he died in April 1865. The museum in Leiden, leaving Bernstein about 2000 Skins. 1861 Bernstein was awarded an honorary membership in the German Ornithologists' Society. Furthermore, he was in the Leopoldina since 1854 member. The Tiertaxa described by Bernstein, the ant Odontomachus macrorhynchus counts from the island of Java.

Ehrentaxa

According to Bernstein, among others, the following bird species are named: the Bernsteinseeschwalbe ( Thalasseus bernsteini ), the Sulahuhn ( Megapodius bernsteinii ), the scarlet breast pigeon ( Ptilinopus bernsteinii ) and the Amber Cuckoo ( Centropus bernsteini ).