James Roxburgh McClymont

Thousands upon thousands of authors are forgotten, inaccessible as their works are hidden in libraries and repositories all over the world. Perhaps, one day in the future, all of their works will be available on line, but by then there would be no way for us to read them (all). AI could read them for us, but AI could not appreciate them the way we could.

In 1911, James Roxburgh McClymont published a poem, "A Returning Colonist" which he probably wrote a few years earlier, possibly around show more 1907. At the age of 27, McClymont had migrated to Australia. He lived there for about 26 years, and then he moved back to Europe. During the years leading up to the Great War he seems to have resided in England, but after the war he may have traveled or lived in France or Spain.

A naturalist, geographer, historian and poet, James Roxburgh McClymont (1854 - 1936) published a volume of poetry in 1878, Songs and Popular Chants, with Other Verses, before setting sail for Australia. He lived in Tasmania for more than 20 years, where he presented several papers to the Royal Society of Tasmania. Whilst living in Tasmania, McClymont may have visited various parts of Australia and New Zealand. Upon his return to England he published several volumes of poetry in 1911, 1912 and 1913. Many of these poems were collected in his book Metrical Romances published as late as 1933.

Not much is known about James Roxburgh McClymont but his trail can be followed through his publications. Thus A List of Butterflies Collected by James R. McClymont in Spain and Italy in the Years 1916 - 1924 suggests extensive stay in Italy and Spain, and likewise A Scot in Spain (1921). More poetry was published in 1925.

McClymont's vast interests and knowledge are shown by some of his other publications such as about the Portuguese navator who discovered Brazil, Pedraluarez Cabral (Pedro Alluarez de Gouvea): His Progenitors, His Life and His Voyage to America and India (1914) , and the captain of the Niña, the Spanish navigator Vincente Anes Pincon and Essays in Historical Geography, published in 1921.

n 1920, James Roxburgh McClymont published Essays on early ornithology and kindred subjects. It is a smallish volume, of just 32 pages. "Early ornithology" should be understood as prior to McClymont's time. In fact, the six short essays are each about misconceptions and incorrect ornithological observations. The first essay is about "the rukh" a mythical bird that appears in the travelogue of Marco Polo. This is followed by an essay about bird observations in the journals of Columbus and Vasco Da Gama. While the essays about Marco Polo's rukh is mainly about the mythological, the second essays shows how idiosyncratic spelling has led to wrong or inaccurate assumptions about wild life. The essay also shows how historic descriptions of observations about nesting materials deviate from modern observations and description. There is another essay about the etymology of the Emu, showing possible origins of the name pointing to words in Arabic and Portuguese. The final two essays are about "Australian birds in 1697" and "New Zealand birds in 1772". In these essays McClymont demonstates how Dutch navigators would often refer to birds in Australia as if they were birds in the Netherlands. For instance, they mention that a nightingale was heard, whereas in fact there are no nightingales in Australia. McClymont suggests it is more likely they heard the Long-billed Reed Warbler. The author gives several other examples of Dutch bird names which later caused confusion in deciding what type of bird had really been observed.

In writing his essays McClymont seems to have made abundent use of Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch language sources. He explores and re-examins natural-historic expeditions and the journals of travellers and navigators for mistakes they made in their observations of the natural world from an historical point of view, and a fine erudition.

Highly recommended as a short diversion for readers with an interest in natural history, particularly the Pacific Ocean and Oceania. show less