Thomas C. Jerdon

Thomas Caverhill Jerdon^[1] (12 October 1811 – 12 June 1872) was an English physician, zoologist and botanist. He was a pioneering ornithologist who described numerous species of birds in India. Several species of plants (including the genus Jerdonia) and birds including Jerdon's baza, Jerdon's leafbird, Jerdon's bushlark, Jerdon's nightjar, Jerdon's courser, Jerdon's babbler and Jerdon's bush chat are named after him.

^ His obituary in The Ibis 1872 (p. 342) and all other works spell his name as Thomas Caverhill Jerdon. This spelling is also found in Hume's Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Volume 1 (1889); M. A. Smith's The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia Volume 1. as well as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry by Christine Brandon-Jones. However Dickinson, E.C. & S.M.S. Gregory (2006) have suggested that Claverhill may be the correct spelling as indicated in the India Office Record, possibly a transcription error and further evidence to the contrary may be seen from Scottish records of the time such as "Reports of Cases Decided in the House of Lords, Upon Appeal from Scotland, from 1726 to [1822]. T. & T. Clark, 1853. page 683" PDF as well as the London Gazette- 13 August 1872 PDF.