MacGillivray, John (1822 - 1867)

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 18 December 1822, died in Sydney, New South Wales, on 6 June 1867.
Collected specimens in the Northern Territory and Queensland, at Port Essington, Raine Island and perhaps other localities along the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait during Bremer and Blackwood's Expedition in the Fly, 1838. Botanist on the voyages of H.M.S. Rattlesnake (Captain Owen Stanley, 1847­1850), collecting at Port Curtis, Rockingham Bay, Port Molle, Cape York, Gould Island, Lizard Island and Moreton Islands in Queensland, Port Essington (Northern Territory) and visiting Sydney (New South Wales) on several occasions. The expedition was in Hobart, Tasmania, in June 1847 and also surveyed in Bass Strait, and on the southern coast of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago. He was a member of expeditions to the Fly and Bramble Rivers in 1842­1846, and on the voyage of the Herald (1852­1861). On the latter expedition, which visited, inter alia, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Dirk Hartog Island and Shark Bay, Western Australia, he was accompanied by William Milne (?­1866). His herbarium is mainly in BM and K, with some duplicates in B, BO, E, G-DC, L, LA, MEL, MO, NY, P and W.

MacGillivray, J. Groups: ABMS. Organisations: B, BM, BO, E, G-DC, K, L, LA, M, MEL, MO, NY, P, W. Collected: (1832-c. 1860) Polynesia: Samoa; Malaysian region: Malaysia, Papua New Guinea; Southern Africa: South Africa; Southern African Islands: Saint Helena (Tristan da Cunha); Australian region: Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania); New Zealand region: New Zealand (Kermadec Islands); New Caledonian region: New Caledonia; Polynesia: Fiji; Brazilian region: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro); Oceania: Vanuatu. Associates: Hooker, W.J. (1785-1865) (collected for), Huxley, T.H. (1825-1895) (collector with), Milne, W.G. (-1866) (co-collector), Stanley, O. (1811-1850) (captain). 1:392, 10:237, 12:106, 17:43, 28:481, 28:542 Controversial collector of natural history objects, known particularly as a conchologist, he began his professional career as the naturalist who travelled with H.M.S. Fly and H.M.S. Bramble (1842-1846). He joined the voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake (1846-1850), travelling with a young T.H. Huxley, the main purpose of the expedition being to map the coasts of New Guinea and Australia. MacGillivray was subsequently appointed naturalist on H.M.S. Herald (1852-1861) which left Plymouth on 10 June 1852 on a voyage of exploration to survey the south-west Pacific. This was the last time that he was in England, leaving behind his creditors to be paid from his wages from the journey. MacGillivray further evaded his creditors by changing a name on a paybill signed by the captain and in April 1855 a court of inquiry dismissed him from H.M.S. Herald in Sydney.
His co-collector, W.G. Milne (-1886) testified that “MacGillivray seldom left the ship before 9.00 or 10.00 am, returning in the afternoon for dinner, and seldom went two miles from the ship...was never in a fit state to attend his business, being continually in a state of intoxication.” MacGillivray was also accused of privately selling specimens to the British Museum which were supposed to be given to W.J. Hooker at Kew; apparently he had advised W.G. Milne to do the same. MacGillivray continued to make collections in New South Wales, mainly of shells;
he died of a heart attack on June 6th 1867.
Despite his fall into comparative anonymity, he was regarded as having good powers of observation and added a great deal to knowledge of the natural history of the Pacific region.
Sutton, D.A.


11 September 2009
Fiji Petrel Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi (Gray, 1860)
'Lost seabird' returns to ocean
BBC by Matt Walker
 
One of the world's rarest and most elusive birds has finally been seen flying in its natural habitat.
The Fiji petrel, a seabird that once "went missing" for 130 years, has been sighted flying at sea, near the island of Gau in the Pacific Ocean.
The culmination of a meticulously planned bird hunt, Birdlife International researchers sighted the birds 25 nautical miles south of Gau.
Up to eight individuals were seen and photographed over 11 days.
The 30cm tall dark-brown Fiji petrel (Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi) is one of the most elusive of all birds.
Originally, the species was known from just a single immature specimen, collected in 1855 on Gau Island, Fiji.
But then the bird "went missing" with no further confirmed sightings of it for almost 130 years.
Then in 1984, an adult was caught and photographed on Gau, then released.
Since then, there have been a handful of reports of "grounded" birds that had crashed onto village roofs on the island. Most were immature birds, of which a few died.
Due to the extremely limited number of sightings, the bird is also inferred to be one of the rarest of all bird species.
It is one of 192 bird species which are list as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Stinky lure
But while there have been ten unconfirmed reports of the bird at sea, with the latest a possible Fiji Petrel sighted around 400km north of Bougainville Island, until now there has been no confirmed sightings.
That was until in May, when scientists and volunteers working with Birdlife International and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, a partner conservation organisation based in Fiji, set out to find the bird in its natural habitat.
The search for the elusive petrel is described in a paper in the latest Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.
The researchers lured the bird with a specially made food, made from finely cut fish offal mixed with very dense fish oil.
These were then frozen into 10kg blocks, which persist for over an hour in the water, creating a pungent oil slick which attracts petrels from some miles away.
On the second day of the expedition, the first Fiji Petrel appeared, approaching the chum slick from downwind, slowly zigzagging over the slick, and suddenly changing direction to drop onto a floating morsel.
In all, the expedition team believe they saw eight individuals over eleven days of observations.
"Finding this bird and capturing such images was a fantastic and exhilarating experience," says ornithologist Hadoram Shirihai, who lead the search team.
In 2008, Mr Shirihai also rediscovered the Critically Endangered Beck's Petrel (Pseudobulweria becki) a bird that was also only known from two sightings in the Pacific made in the 1920s.
"To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical," added fellow expedition member Mr Tony Pym, describing his joy at seeing the Fiji petrel flying over the waves.
More surveys in 2010 are now planned to to locate the breeding area of the Fiji Petrel, says Dick Watling of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti.
"Once we know the location, we can assess what needs to be done to turn around the fortunes of this species," he says.

Cronologia Ornitologica
by Alberto Masi