The BombayNatural History Society, founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants and publishes the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Many prominent naturalists, including the ornithologists Sálim Ali and S. Dillon Ripley, have been associated with it. The society is commonly known by its initials, BNHS.
History
On 15 September 1883 eight men interested in natural history met at Bombay in the then Victoria and Albert Museum and: According to E. H. Aitken, Dr G. A. Maconochie was the fons et origo of the society. The other founders were Dr D. MacDonald, Col. C. Swinhoe, Mr J. C. Anderson, Mr J. Johnston, Dr Atmaram Pandurang and Dr Sakharam Arjun. Mr H. M. Phipson was a part of the founding group. He lent a part of his wine shop at 18 Forbes Street to the BNHS as an office. In 1911, R. C. Wroughton a BNHS member and forest officer organised a survey of mammals making use of the members spread through the Indian subcontinent to provide specimens. This was perhaps the first collaborative natural history study in the world. It resulted in a collection of 50,000 specimens in 12 years. Several new species were discovered, 47 publications were published, and the understanding of biogeographic boundaries was improved. In the early years, the Journal of the BNHS reviewed contemporary literature from other parts of the world. The description of ant-bird interactions in German by Erwin Stresemann was reviewed in a 1935 issue leading to the introduction of the term anting into English. Today the BNHS is headquartered in the specially constructed 'Hornbill House' in southern Mumbai. It sponsors studies in Indian wildlife and conservation, and publishes a four-monthly journal, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, as well as a quarterly magazine, Hornbill. BNHS is the partner of BirdLife International in India. It has been designated as a 'Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation' by the Department of Science and Technology. Its headquarter is in Mumbai and has one regional centre at Wetland Research and Training Centre, near Chilika Lake, Odisha.
BNHS logo
The BNHS logo is the great hornbill, inspired by a great hornbill named William, who lived on the premises of the Society from 1894 until 1920, during the honorary secretaryships of H. M. Phipson until 1906 and W. S. Millard from 1906 to 1920. The logo was created in 1933, the silver-jubilee year of the Society's founding.
William
According to H. M. Phipson, William was born in May 1894 and presented to the Society three months later by H. Ingle of Karwar. He reached his full length and also of live mice, scorpions, and plain raw meat, which he ate with relish. He apparently did not drink water, nor use it for bathing. William was known for catching tennis balls thrown at him from a distance of some 30 feet with his beak. In his obituary of W. S. Millard, Sir Norman Kinnear made the following remarks about William:
Image:Buceros bicornis -illustration in book.jpg|Profile by E. Comber of the great Indian hornbill, "William," who lived on the premises of the society from 1894 until 1920, and who would later be the model for its logo. Image:William office canary2.jpg|Another photograph of "William," by E. Comber published in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 1897.
