William Henry Sykes

Colonel William Henry Sykes (January 25, 1790 - June 16, 1872) was an Indian Army officer, politician and ornithologist.

Sykes was born near Bradford in Yorkshire, and 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 Sykes made collections of native 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. Sykes also studied the fish of the area, and wrote papers on the quails and hemipodes of India.

Sykes's Crested Lark Galerida deva of central India is named after him. In addition, one race of Blue-headed Wagtail, Motacilla flava beema, was given the common name Sykes's Wagtail in British Birds in 1907.

Reference

• Biographies for Birdwatchers by Barbara and Richard Mearns ISBN 0124874223