T. W. Wood
| T. W. Wood | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Thomas Wood Summer 1839 Marylebone, London |
| Nationality | English |
| Known for | zoological illustration |
| Notable work | Illustrations in The Malay Archipelago, The Descent of Man |
| Patron(s) | Wallace, Darwin, Tegetmeier |
T. W. Wood (born Thomas Wood, summer 1839 – c. 1910) was an English zoological illustrator responsible for the accurate drawings in major nineteenth century works of natural history including Darwin's The Descent of Man and Wallace's The Malay Archipelago. He studied the courtship display behaviour of pheasants, observing them closely and publishing the first description of the double-banded argus pheasant. He illustrated many books, often of birds but also of moths and mammals.
Some new illustrations have been introduced, and four of the old drawings have been replaced by better ones, done from life by Mr. T. W. Wood.
I also obtained one or two specimens of the fine racquet-tailed kingfisher of Amboyna, Tanysiptera nais, one of the most singular and beautiful of that beautiful family... They are confined to a very limited area, comprising the Moluccas, New Guinea and Northern Australia... The Amboynese species, of which a very accurate representation is here given, is one of the largest and handsomest. It is full seventeen inches long to the tips of the tail-feathers; the bill is coral red, the under- surface pure white, the back and wings deep purple, while the shoulders, head and nape, and some spots on the upper part of the back and wings, are pure azure blue; the tail is white, with the feathers narrowly blue-edged, but the narrow part of the long feathers is rich blue. This was an entirely new species, and has been well named after an ocean goddess, by Mr. R. G. Gray.
Wood was born in the London borough of Marylebone in June 1839. He became a zoological illustrator, well known in the nineteenth century for his many engravings for major works of natural history including Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man (1871) and Alfred Russel Wallace's The Malay Archipelago (1869).
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