Despite their small size the Maltese islands have a rich history that spans 7000 years. Situated strategically in the centre of the Mediterranean in the wide path of bird migration, birds have fascinated people down the ages, and not surprisingly, resulted also in a rich and varied ornithological history.
A lecture held last week organized by Wirt Ghawdex at the St Cecilia chapel in Xewkija, and given by well-known authority Joe Sultana covered the early years of the history of ornithology in the Islands, from a comment by a 16th century French monk in 1757, an account by the renowned Gozitan scholar de Soldanis of the collection of foul smelling seabirds by a French Knight, up to the era of Antonio Schembri in the mid19th century, hailed as the father of Maltese ornithology.
The lecture was based on the first two chapters of a recent publication "History of Ornithology in Malta" by Joe Sultana and John J. Borg published by BirdLife Malta.
Etienne Francois Turgot, (1721 - 1789) a knight of Malta, studied closely the Storm Petrels who, he found, were very loyal to their habitats, and remain so today.
He sent specimens to the Academy of Sciences in Paris and was reported by de Soldanis to have sent these specimens to a French academician called 'Lomieux'. Such a name never existed and historians have long been trying to identify him.
Recently, however, it has been suggested that the reference was to none other than René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, one of the foremost French scientists of the time, who also invented the thermometer scale which bears his name: the Réaumur. It may be that de Soldanis misunderstood his surname.
The missing link which led to the identification of Lomieux as de Reaumur came from a letter by another French knight, de Riville, a friend of Turgot.
It was de Riville who identified the Storm Petrels as birds that nest in Malta and who still do so at Gozo's Ta' Sanap cliffs as well as a smaller colony outside Gharb.
De Riville was also in contact with the great Comte de Buffon, the keeper of the king's garden at Fontainbleu and he also sent him some specimens of birds from Malta.
In 1772, Gian Antonio Ciantar, through the help of Grand Master Adrien de Wignacourt, furthered the study of birds in Malta.
After the coming of the British, press freedom came to Malta (but only 38 years into British rule). No less than 20 newspapers came to being in the first year, but some lasted only two or three issues. Many began to carry articles about the birds of Malta.
The next personage to grace the ornithology of Malta was Antonio Schembri, known as the father of Maltese ornithology. He was a merchant by profession and came from a rich family. Later he also became consul for Belgium and, because of that, was not allowed to be elected to the Council of Government.
Despite his profession, he was a keen ornithologist and published innumerable books about the birds of Malta, even suffering being plagiarized by an Englishman for an English-language book (Antonio Schembri's books were in Italian, the language of the cultured elite at the time.)
Although his methodology was very thorough (he even had a farm on Comino) he remained a serious amateur and not a scientist. For example, he thought the Storm Petrels are birds from the Atlantic, also because of the peculiar structure of their legs which leads them to waddle. We now know the Storm Petrels are Mediterranean birds, a sub-species of the Storm Petrel family.
He was a frequent correspondent with Prince Charles Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon and even accompanied him on some ornithological expeditions to Italy. Besides, being united by their interest in birds, they were also united by their political views.
Unfortunately all his vast collection of books has been dissipated and the remaining books have been traced to the Cachia Zammit family.