Who is John Latham?

John Latham (27 June 1740 – 4 February 1837) was an English physician, naturalist and author. His main works were A General Synopsis of Birds (1781–1801) and General History of Birds (1821–1828). He was nimble to inspect specimens of Australian birds which reached England in the last twenty years of the 18th century, and was answerable for providing English names for many of them. He named Australia’s well-known birds, these included the emu, sulphur-crested cockatoo, wedge-tailed eagle, superb lyrebird and Australian magpie. He was also the first to describe the hyacinth macaw. Latham has been called the “grandfather” of Australian ornithology.

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