Sykes, William Henry (1790-1872)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Colonel William Henry Sykes (1790 - 1872) was an Indian Army officer, politician and ornithologist.

He joined the Bombay Army in 1804, returning to Britain in 1837. He became MP for Aberdeen in 1857, and was elected President of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1858.

During his time in India he made collections of both birds and animals. He published his catalogues of birds and mammals of the Deccan in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society in 1832. This included fifty-six birds new to science, including the Indian Pond Heron.

TAXONOMIC PUBLICATIONS

 * Sykes, W. H. 1835. Descriptions of new species of Indian ants. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 1: 99-107