Galapagos bird specimens Darwin Research

Two Galapagos Mockingbirds (right, upper from Espanola lower from San Cristobal), three Galapagos finch species (upper left) and Yellow Warbler (gold, lower left), from the collection of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Galapagos. While actually on the Beagle voyage, it was the mockinbirds, and not the celebrated finches gave Darwin a glimpse that species could vary from neighbouring Island to Island. Darwin originally misidentified the finches when he collected them on the Galapagos, assuming them to be from very different groups. He also failed to label the birds very well, which he always regretted. Artist/ornithologist John Gould identified the birds for him and alerted him to the Mockinbirds being distinct species and the others as a new group of 12 closely related species of ground finch. The name 'Darwin's finch' was applied to the latter by Percy Lowe in 1936.