The Zoologist/4th series, vol 5 (1901)/Issue 718/Obituary for Joseph Abrahams, Butler
OBITUARY.
Joseph Abrahams.
Mr. Joseph Abrahams,[1] the well-known and widely-respected Naturalist-dealer, was the son of Mr. Isaac Abrahams, of Leeds, in which town he was born on June 26th, 1839. When only sixteen years old he visited Victoria as one of the pioneers of the gold-mining industry of the Bendigo and Ballarat goldfields, and was the owner of the first miner's right to dig for gold. It therefore was not until his return to England in 1861 and his succession shortly afterwards to the business of his father-in-law, Moses Nathan, that Mr. Abrahams commenced his researches into the minute and yet important characters, the knowledge of which raised him far above the level of the ordinary bird-dealer.
Although almost entirely self-taught, it is no exaggeration to say that in the sexing of birds no man was his equal; he could unhesitatingly pick out a pair of birds of any imported species with such accuracy that, under favourable conditions, nesting would be almost a certainty; his eye became so trained to the differences of male and female in birds of identical plumage that, in ninety-nine out of a hundred cases, he would sex them at a glance. In the case of the Parrots, however, this was not always possible; but having devoted five years to the preparation of skulls from birds of which he had ascertained the sex by dissection, he accumulated such a mass of material that he was enabled to discover a well-defined constant sexual distinction, enabling him at all times to tell the sex of a Parrot whilst apparently only tickling its face. Not satisfied with this structural difference alone, which was not always pleasant to ascertain in the case of vicious and spiteful birds, this indefatigable student proceeded to note the colour of the irides, and ascertained that, in the genus Chrysotis at any rate, the iris in the female was decidedly paler than that of the male. The sexes of Love-birds and Budjerigars, apart from colour-differences, he usually ascertained on dull days by letting each bird in a consignment bite his fingers; every cock pinched, but every hen drew blood: a pleasant experience truly, but fully confirmed by the scarred condition of this enthusiastic naturalist's fingers!
Kind, genial, generous, it was impossible for a man like Mr. Abrahams to keep his knowledge to himself. Any of his friends who really wished to learn could benefit by his experience; he would not merely answer a question, but would compel the enquirer to discover the answer to it for himself. If asked how he could tell the sexes of two birds exactly alike in plumage, he would take his net, catch a pair, hold them close together, and ask you if you could not see a difference; if you hesitated, he would point out that, having nothing else to guide it, a bird must be guided (as we generally are in the case of the human species) by the face. Thus he led up to the ascertained constant character, and when it was mastered, he would say, "Right! Now you will never forget it."
Mr. Abrahams died from peritonitis, following an operation, at the age of 62, on Friday, March 8th, leaving a blank which will not be easily filled.
- ↑ See: 'Abrahams, Joseph' in: Rubinstein, W. Michael A. Jolles & Hilary L. Rubinstein (2011) - Palgrave Dictionary of Jewish History. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978 1 349 51951 4, p. 10. (Wikisource-Ed.)
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