James Edmund Harting
| James Edmund Fotheringham Harting | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 April 1841 Kensington, United Kingdom |
| Died | 10 January 1928 (aged 86) Weybridge, Surrey |
| Citizenship | British |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Natural history, ornithology |
James Edmund Fotheringham Harting (29 April 1841 – 10 January 1928) was an English ornithologist and naturalist.
Harting was the eldest son of James Vincent Harting and Alexine Milne Fotheringham. He was educated at Downside Abbey and the University of London and spent much of his youth traveling on the Continent, spending time at the Museums in Paris and Leiden. Passing all the exams for a solicitor except for criminal law, he worked at his profession from 1868 to 1878, then turning to natural history and writing.
He wrote his first article for The Field on 13 March 1869 and remained on the staff for fifty years, becoming editor of the Naturalist Department in 1871 and later editor of the Shooting Department. By 1920 he contributed 2,326 articles as well as 124 obituary notices, as well as "Answers to Correspondents" which he wrote on Natural History, Falconry, Angling and other issues.
Harting edited The Zoologist from 1877 to 1896 and was considered an authority on British birds. He was Assistant Secretary and Librarian to the Linnean Society. He was a Fellow of the Linnæan Society; a life member of the Zoological Society; member of the British Ornithologists' Union and a corresponding member of the American Ornithologists Union. In 1880 he was awarded a Silver Medal by the Acclimatisation Society of France "for publications".
Late in the 1870s Harting started the New Hawking Club to enable Londoners to observe falconry; the Old Hawking Club was in the Salisbury Plain which was too far away for most people. He bought peregrine falcons and gyrfalcons from John Barr who had worked for Sandys Dugmore as a professional falconer from 1874-1877, hired Barr as a falconer and obtained permission from Lord Rosebery to use Epsom Downs for hawking. He set up near the Grandstand of the racecourse and had a successful season in the autumn of 1878, but the birds died of the croaks in the winter, ending the venture.
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