A History of the Birds of Europe, including all the Species inhabiting the Western Palearctic Region is a nine-volume ornithological book published in parts between 1871 and 1882. It is mainly written by Henry Eeles Dresser, although Richard Bowdler Sharpe co-authored the earlier volumes. The book describes all the bird species reliably recorded in the wild in Europe and adjacent geographical areas with similar fauna, giving their worldwide distribution, variations in appearance and migratory movements. It was published as 84 quarto parts, each typically containing 56 pages of text and eight plates of illustrations, the latter mainly by the Dutch artist John Gerrard Keulemans, and bound into permanent volumes when all the parts were published. In total, 339 copies were made, at a cost to each subscriber of £52 10s. Birds of Europe was well received by its contemporary reviewers, although Dresser's outdated views and the cost of his books meant that in the long run his works had limited influence.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Birds_of_Europe

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1793:

War of the First Coalition: The two-day Battle of Wattignies concluded, with Jean-Baptiste Jourdan leading French forces to victory over Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wattignies

1834:

Most of the Palace of Westminster in London was destroyed in a fire caused by the burning of wooden tally sticks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Parliament

1940:

World War II: Nazi governor-general Hans Frank established the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Poland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto

1984:

The Bill debuted on ITV, eventually becoming the longest- running police procedural in British television history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bill

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

chicory: 1. (countable, botany) Either of two plants of the Asteraceae family. 2. (chiefly Britain) The common chicory (Cichorium intybus), the source of Belgian endive, radicchio, and sugarloaf. 3. (chiefly Canada, US) The endive (Cichorium endivia, the source of escarole and frisée. 4. (uncountable, cooking) A coffee substitute made from the roasted roots of the common chicory, sometimes used as a cheap adulterant in real coffee. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chicory

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I listen to people talking about this universal breakdown we are in and I marvel at their stupid cowardice. It is so obvious that they deliberately cheat themselves because their fear of change won't let them face the truth. They don't want to understand what has happened to them. All they want is to start the merry-go-round of blind greed all over again. They no longer know what they want this country to be, what they want it to become, where they want it to go. It has lost all meaning for them except as pig-wallow. And so their lives as citizens have no beginnings, no ends. They have lost the ideal of the Land of the Free. Freedom demands initiative, courage, the need to decide what life must mean to oneself. To them, that is terror. They explain away their spiritual cowardice by whining that the time for individualism is past, when it is their courage to possess their own souls which is dead — and stinking! No, they don't want to be free. Slavery means security — of a kind, the only kind they have courage for. It means they need not to think. They have only to obey orders from owners who are, in turn, their slaves!   --Eugene O'Neill https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_O%27Neill