author
T. M. (Thomas Mayo) Brewer
1814–1880
A Boston-born naturalist who helped shape early American ornithology, he turned a medical education into a lifelong study of birds and eggs. He is especially remembered for major 19th-century works that brought together what was then known about North American birdlife.
3 Audiobooks
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3
by Spencer Fullerton Baird, T. M. (Thomas Mayo) Brewer, Robert Ridgway
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3
by Spencer Fullerton Baird, T. M. (Thomas Mayo) Brewer, Robert Ridgway
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3
by Spencer Fullerton Baird, T. M. (Thomas Mayo) Brewer, Robert Ridgway
About the author
Born in Boston in 1814, Thomas Mayo Brewer studied at Harvard College and then Harvard Medical School, but his strongest interest was natural history rather than medicine. He became closely involved with the Boston Society of Natural History and built a reputation as an ornithologist and oologist at a time when the study of North American birds was still taking shape.
Brewer is best known as a coauthor of A History of North American Birds, produced with Spencer Fullerton Baird and Robert Ridgway. He also wrote works on bird nesting and eggs, including North American Oology, and was regarded as one of the leading American bird scholars of his era.
Beyond science, he also worked in journalism and publishing. He died in 1880, but his books remained important reference points for later students of American birds.