Edgar Percival Chance | |
|---|---|
 Chance entering a hide | |
| Born | 1881 Edgbaston, Birmingham, England |
| Died | 24 October 1955 (aged 73–74) |
| Other names | Cuckoo Chance |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Study of thecommon cuckoo |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Kenneth Macomb Chance (brother) |
Edgar Percival Chance (1881–1955) was a British businessman,ornithologist andoologist who amassed a collection of 25,000birds' eggs.[1] He is noted for his pioneering studies on theparasitic breeding behaviour of thecommon cuckoo (Cuculus canorus).
Chance was born atEdgbaston, in the city ofBirmingham, the son of Alexander Macomb Chance and Florence Mercer.
He was educated atTrinity College, Cambridge. He was a wealthy businessman and industrialist who managed the family chemicals business,Chance and Hunt, based inOldbury, West Midlands, which provided chemicals to Chance Brothers, the famousglassmakers based inSmethwick, Birmingham, between the first and second world wars.[2] He was an egg-collector who became fascinated bycuckoos and made intensive studies of the common cuckoo, in the course of which he wrote two books about the species as well as producing a film. The film,The Cuckoo's Secret, was shot atPound Green Common inWorcestershire,[3] showing for the first time that female cuckoos lay their eggs directly into the nests of their hosts, rather than laying them on the ground and placing them in the nests with their bills as was previously widely believed.[4] He also achieved a world record for collecting the most eggs – 25 – from a single female cuckoo in the course of one breeding season (1922).[5]
Chance was a member of theBritish Ornithologists' Union – from which his egg collecting eventually resulted in his expulsion[6] – and served on the Council of theBritish Oological Association. He named his daughter Cardamine, alluding to the scientific name of the cuckoo flowerCardamine pratensis.
ProfessorNick Davies ofCambridge University has described Chance as one of his all time heroes and featured Chance's contribution to science in his bookCuckoo.[7]
Chance's large egg collection, which includes the eggs of the cuckoo filmed at Pound Green Common, is held at theNatural History Museum at Tring.[6]
Chance died at his home, age 74, on 24 October 1955.[8]
Chance's fraternal grandmother was Cornelia de Peyster, whose ancestors wereDutch andHuguenot settlers inBritish North America andLoyalist to the Crown.[9]
Edgar Chance's elder brotherKenneth Macomb Chance,Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1948 and founder ofBritish Industrial Plastics, was also a keen egg-collector, forming between 1925 and 1938 a complete collection of Warwickshire birds' eggs which is now in the possession of his grandson.[citation needed]
Among Chance's many articles in the ornithological literature are:
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| National | |
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