[Scholars and Amateurs in Ornithology around 1800: Sharing Literature].

Abstract

Ornithology has emerged as a science at the turn of the 18th century. To become a self-sufficient scientific discipline, studies of birds had to distinguish themselves from luxury, trade and poetry. Scholars had to invent new ways of writing, different from the beautiful and ornamented books on birds, even if these books were often published by other scholars who had been expelled from academic institutions and therefore considered as «amateurs». The same scholars needed the help of «amateurs» in order to observe and explain bird migration. First ornithological discourses in Europe and the United States illustrate the relationships between scholars, authors and «amateurs» and show how these words can be used in different meanings.