Johann Matthäus Bechstein

author

Johann Matthäus Bechstein

1757–1822

Best remembered for lively, observant writing about birds, this German naturalist helped shape early forestry and animal study at the turn of the 19th century. His work ranges from practical natural history to influential books that introduced many readers to the habits of wildlife.

1 Audiobook

The Natural History of Cage Birds Their Management, Habits, Food, Diseases, Treatment, Breeding, and the Methods of Catching Them.

The Natural History of Cage Birds Their Management, Habits, Food, Diseases, Treatment, Breeding, and the Methods of Catching Them.

by Johann Matthäus Bechstein

About the author

Born in Waltershausen on July 11, 1757, Johann Matthäus Bechstein became a German naturalist, forester, ornithologist, entomologist, and herpetologist. He first studied theology at Jena, but his lasting interests were the natural world and the forests around him.

Bechstein taught at the progressive school in Schnepfenthal and later became director of the forestry school at Dreißigacker near Meiningen. His career joined close observation of animals with practical forestry, helping to build forestry education into a more serious field of study.

He is especially remembered for his writings on birds, including Naturgeschichte der Stubenvögel (Natural History of Cage Birds, 1795), which made his name known beyond Germany. Modern readers may also recognize him from Bechstein's bat, a species named in his honor. He died on February 23, 1822, in Dreißigacker.