Scotland's Minister for Ornithology: Rare & Unpublished Papers

The Rev. John Morell McWlliam was one of the great characters of the Scottish bird world and first Honorary President of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club. He is best known as the author of the much sought-after The Birds of the Island of Bute and The Birds of the Firth of Clyde (also now available as ebooks).

Fellow founders of the SOC affectionately called McWilliam “Scotland’s Minister for Ornithology” and that’s the title given to this new collection of rare papers and notes from publications like The Zoologist, British Birds and Scottish Naturalist. The ebook also includes fascinating extracts from his bird notebooks as well as a previously unpublished and often hilarious autobiography.

Of special interest is a lengthy paper from 1945 describing McWilliam’s discovery of the world’s 21st gannetry at the Scar Rocks in the Solway Firth.