Neville William Cayley

Neville William Cayley (1886–1950) was a celebrated Australian author, artist and ornithologist. He produced Australia's first comprehensive bird field guide What Bird is That?. In 1960 it was rated the all-time best seller in Australian natural history and remains a classic birding reference to this day.

Born in Yamba, New South Wales, in January 1886, he was the son of ornithologist and bird artist Neville Henry Cayley, and consequently signed his name as Neville W. Cayley in his professional years. Cayley's family moved to Sydney in the mid-1890s, where he studied art and was a pivotal member in the Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club.

In 1918, his first work, the booklet Our Birds was published. Our Flowers and The Tale of Bluey Wren followed, both published in 1926. In the same period (1925–26), Cayley began illustrating birds’ eggs for the Australian Encyclopaedia.

Cayley's big breakthrough came in 1931 when he published his most celebrated work: What Bird is That? It was the first comprehensive field guide to Australian birds and included full-colour paintings of each species, setting the benchmark for all Australian field guides to come. It remained the only available field guide from the 1930s (the first edition was issued in 1931) to the 1960s. Rather than create another book for birding's elite, Cayley wanted to create one that was accessible to beginners. To this end, he organised the birds by habitat, which made them easy to find and identify, and included concise information on bird distribution, behaviour and breeding. The book became a classic, has been reprinted and repackaged in many formats, and remains in print to this day.

Following the success of What Bird is That? Cayley published a number of other bird titles as well as paintings for What Butterfly is That? (1932) and Furred Mammals of Australia (1941). Cayley favoured watercolours and his vibrant pictures were steeped in sunlight and shadow. He often used bird specimens from the Australian Museum as reference, and noted on the back of artwork which particular specimen he had used. His paintings were regularly published in the Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union's quarterly journal The Emu, and he wrote popular articles on birds for the weekly Sydney Mail. Cayley held several art exhibitions and in 1932 one of his paintings was presented to King George V.

...
Wikipedia