Eiler Lehn Schiøler

Eiler Theodor Lehn Schiøler (October 30, 1874 – August 13, 1929) was a Danish ornithologist and banker who came from a family of stockbrokers. He was the author of a major but incomplete multi-volume work on the birds of Denmark published from 1925 to 1931.

Schiøler was born in Frederiksberg where he became interested in birds as a schoolboy in Herlufsholm under the influence of his teacher Margar Traustedt. He then went to the Metropolitan School and during this period began to collect eggs and bird skins. His collections became so large, with 21,000 skins, 2,000 mounted specimens, and 10,000 skeletons, that he needed a house next to his villa in Uraniavej in Copenhagen. He studied at the Brockske Business School and also went to train in banking in the United States. In 1906 he became a partner in his father's company. In 1925 he went on an expedition to Greenland along with the artist Johannes Larsen and ornithologist Finn Salomonsen. He was one of the founding members of the Danish Ornithological Association, serving as its first chairman. The 1922 financial crash led to the family company being liquidated and much of the family fortunes were lost. He started working on a major work on the birds of Denmark, Danmarks Fugle, but he was able to publish only three of a projected eight volumes, after being paralyzed in 1926. He helped organized the International Ornithological Congress held in Copengahen in 1926. The third volume was published after his death in 1929. The paintings of birds were made by Johannes Larsen, Gerhard Heilmann, and Henning Scheel and the work has been considered a landmark in bird art. Schiøler was also a member of the Danish hunting organization and was very keen on the protection of birds of prey and contributed to changes in the hunting laws of 1922.[1][2]