Marc Athanase Parfait Œillet des Murs was a French amateur ornithologist and local politician and historian. , a species named after him.
Life
His parents were Jacques Philippe Athanase Œillet Des Murs and Marie Henriette Gard. He entered the magistracy in 1830 and left it in 1838. In 1841 he became a lawyer in the Court of Cassation, but in 1846 retired to the department of Eure-et-Loir, where in 1843 he had bought a castle called the Château St. Jean near the town of Nogent-le-Rotrou and begun extensive restoration work on it. He was the mayor of Nogent-le-Rotrou from 1860 to 1868. In 1885, having sunk a good deal of his fortune into the restoration of the Château, he sold it. He married Caroline Euphrasie Naulot, who survived him.
Ornithology
He published many papers. His major ornithological works include
Iconographie Ornithologique,, a book of illustrations and descriptions of birds.
Traité général d’oologie ornithologique au point de vue de la classification, 1860. One reviewer praised the author's knowledge of oology but disagreed with his reliance on resemblances of eggs, with too little attention to other information, in the classification of birds.
Leçons élémentaires sur l'histoire naturelle des oiseaux, a popularization of ornithology, in which he joined Jules Verreaux in collaborating with Jean-Charles Chenu.
History
His main historical work is Histoire des comtes du Perche de la famille des Rotrou de 943 à 1231, 1856.
Surname
"Des Murs" is a known French surname meaning "of the walls". "Œillet" means "carnation", so "Œillet des Murs" could be a rare surname meaning "carnation of the walls". Which of those was his surname seems to have been unclear even during his lifetime. His name appears on the title pages of his books as "M. O. des Murs" and as "O. des Murs" with no other names or titles, though he signs a dedication "P. O. des Murs". It also appears as "O. des Murs" in books where the names of his co-authors, Chenu and Verreaux and Prévost, are given with initials and surnames, suggesting that he thought of "O." as his initial and "Des Murs" as his surname. Likewise his contribution to Chenu's Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle is listed as by "M. des Murs". On the other hand, he was cited with the family name "Oeillet des Murs" in his time, on his death certificate and later, and Marc Oeillet des Murs appears as a writer on Normandy. In ornithology he is referred to as "Des Murs".
