Robert Ridgway (1850–1929)

American ornithologist. Curator of birds at the United States National Museum, 1880–1929. Founding member of the American Ornithologists’ Union, 1883. Joint author of History of North American birds (1874–84). Published one of the first and most important colour systems for bird identification, A nomenclature of colors for naturalists and compendium of useful knowledge for ornithologists (1886), and the first eight parts of ‘The birds of North and Middle America’ (1901–19).