Spencer G. Sealy

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2; e-mail: sgsealy@cc.umanitoba.ca

Abstract: John Henry Keen, clergyman and naturalist, recorded birds in the vicinity of the Haida village of Massett, Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), from 1890 to 1899. Fifty-two species of birds were listed through the end of 1891, the first of nearly 10 years spent on the Islands; these observations were augmented with 19 species recorded before his departure to Metlakatla in 1899. The records were sent to naturalist Wilfred H. Osgood of the U.S Biological Survey in Washington, D.C., who incorporated many of them into the first comprehensive treatise of the natural history of the Queen Charlotte Islands, published in 1901. Keen’s list is transcribed and cross-referenced with Osgood’s, and his work on birds is examined in the context of his attention to other areas of natural history.

Key Words: British Columbia, early correspondence, Haida Gwaii, historic bird records, J.H. Keen, Massett, natural history, unpublished bird list.

Sealy, S.G. 2016. The Reverend John H. Keen’s observations of birds and unpublished list from the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), British Columbia, 1890–1899. British Columbia Birds 26:16–23. First published on-line August 2015.

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