Sidney Dillon Ripley (20 September, 1913 - 12 March, 2001 ) was an ornithologist.

He graduated from Yale University, and decided that birds were more interesting than law and took to studying zoology at Columbia University. He visited India with his parents when he was 13 and his special area of interest in zoology was the ornithology of India.

He was secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1964 to 1984.

During World War II, he joined service in the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency and was in charge of American intelligence services in Southeast Asia.

Bibliography

• Rails of the World - A Monograph of the Family Rallidae (1977)
• Birds of Bhutan, with Salim Ali and Biswamoy Biswas
• Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, with Salim Ali in 10 volumes

External link

• Smithsonian biography