ornithology

plural ornithologies

1. countableuncountableThe branch of zoology that deals with the scientific study of birds.

   Gesner says in his Ornithology, that this fact was attested by a great many moderns of his own time, and he even quotes Albert the great, who asserts that he has seen a cock foster chickens.

   1750, René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, The Art of Hatching and Bringing Up Domestick Fowls of All Kinds at Any Time of the Year

   2 more examples

   “What a remarkable phenomenon,” said the Professor of Ornithology as he was passing over the bridge. “A swallow in winter!” And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper. Every one quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.

   1888, Oscar Wilde, “The Happy Prince”, in The Happy Prince and Other Tales, London: Duckworth, published 1928, page 24

   Jerome A. Jackson, an ivory bill specialist at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, has now increased the intensity of the discussion in a 15-page article in the current issue of The Auk, a quarterly ornithology journal published by the American Ornithologists' Union.

   2006 January 24, James Gorman, “Ivory Bill Report Is Called 'Faith-Based Ornithology'”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: birdlore, fowl-lore