ornithology

noun

Etymology: From New Latin ornithologia, coined by Ulisse Aldrovandi from Ancient Greek ὀρνιθολόγος (ornithológos), from ὄρνις (órnis) and λόγος (lógos). See also ornitho- + -logy.

1. The branch of zoology that deals with the scientific study of birds.

   “Gesner says in his Ornithology, that this fact was attested by a great many moderns of his own time, and he even quotes Albert the great, who asserts that he has seen a cock foster chickens.”

   “Jerome A. Jackson, an ivory bill specialist at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, has now increased the intensity of the discussion in a 15-page article in the current issue of The Auk, a quarterly ornithology journal published by the American Ornithologists' Union.”