Bird species in the US and Canada linked to Paisley-born 'Father of Ornithology' Alexander Wilson are to be renamed after years of controversy.
Seventy to 80 birds will be renamed based on their habitats and traits rather than people's names, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) has announced.
The society will remove all human names for bird species, including those linked to people with racist histories.
Although the society does not make this clear, Alexander Wilson is said to have used racist terminology in his diaries. Birds that will be renamed include Wilson's warbler and Wilson's snipe.
Born on July 6 1766, he was apprenticed as a weaver and also published his own journal and poems but following arrests for protests against industrial conditions, he emigrated from Scotland to the United States with his nephew in 1794.
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In 1804 he became an American citizen. The botanist, William Bartram, encouraged his interest in birds and he travelled widely making drawings and detailed studies.
The results were published as 'American Ornithology' in eight volumes from 1808 and one of the early subscribers was President Thomas Jefferson.
His achievements were recognised by election to the Society of Artists of the United States and the American Philosophical Society.
A ninth volume was published after his death in August 1813. The Wilson Ornithological Society is named in his honour and there is a statue to him in Abbey Close, Paisley.
OneRen, which is overseeing work to refurbish Paisley Museum, said it would look at naming conventions being developed by AOS "to consider how best to interpret this development with regard to birds associated with Alexander Wilson".
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A spokesman said its interpretation of works by American naturalist and wildlife illustrator James John Audubon "directly tackles the question of race, racism and colonialism".
Audubon owned slaves and held "harmful attitudes toward Black and Indigenous people" according to the National Audubon Society.
The AOS said it will create a new committee to oversee the assignment of the new bird names.
"This committee will broaden participation by including a diverse representation of individuals with expertise in the social sciences, communications, ornithology, and taxonomy," the AOS said in its statement.
The public will also be involved in the process, it added.
The decision was taken "after a lengthy process to examine its name in light of the personal history of its namesake", the society said in a March statement.
"The name has come to represent so much more than the work of one person, but a broader love of birds and nature, and a non-partisan approach to conservation," Susan Bell, who is on the society's board, said.
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