the Western Palearctic Region is a nine-volume ornithological book
published in parts between 1871 and 1882. It is mainly written by Henry
Eeles Dresser, although Richard Bowdler Sharpe co-authored the earlier
volumes. The book describes all the bird species reliably recorded in
the wild in Europe and adjacent geographical areas with similar fauna,
giving their worldwide distribution, variations in appearance and
migratory movements. It was published as 84 quarto parts, each typically
containing 56 pages of text and eight plates of illustrations, the
latter mainly by the Dutch artist John Gerrard Keulemans, and bound into
permanent volumes when all the parts were published. In total, 339
copies were made, at a cost to each subscriber of £52 10s. Birds of
Europe was well received by its contemporary reviewers, although
Dresser's outdated views and the cost of his books meant that in the
long run his works had limited influence.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Birds_of_Europe>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
War of the First Coalition: The two-day Battle of Wattignies
concluded, with Jean-Baptiste Jourdan leading French forces to victory
over Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wattignies>
1834:
Most of the Palace of Westminster in London was destroyed in a
fire caused by the burning of wooden tally sticks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Parliament>
1940:
World War II: Nazi governor-general Hans Frank established the
Warsaw Ghetto, the largest Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Poland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto>
1984:
The Bill debuted on ITV, eventually becoming the longest-
running police procedural in British television history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bill>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chicory:
1. (countable, botany) Either of two plants of the Asteraceae family.
2. (chiefly Britain) The common chicory (Cichorium intybus), the source
of Belgian endive, radicchio, and sugarloaf.
3. (chiefly Canada, US) The endive (Cichorium endivia, the source of
escarole and frisée.
4. (uncountable, cooking) A coffee substitute made from the roasted
roots of the common chicory, sometimes used as a cheap adulterant in
real coffee.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chicory>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I listen to people talking about this universal breakdown we are
in and I marvel at their stupid cowardice. It is so obvious that they
deliberately cheat themselves because their fear of change won't let
them face the truth. They don't want to understand what has happened to
them. All they want is to start the merry-go-round of blind greed all
over again. They no longer know what they want this country to be, what
they want it to become, where they want it to go. It has lost all
meaning for them except as pig-wallow. And so their lives as citizens
have no beginnings, no ends. They have lost the ideal of the Land of the
Free. Freedom demands initiative, courage, the need to decide what life
must mean to oneself. To them, that is terror. They explain away their
spiritual cowardice by whining that the time for individualism is past,
when it is their courage to possess their own souls which is dead —
and stinking! No, they don't want to be free. Slavery means security —
of a kind, the only kind they have courage for. It means they need not
to think. They have only to obey orders from owners who are, in turn,
their slaves!
--Eugene O'Neill
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_O%27Neill>
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