1831 in birding and ornithology

Enicurus maculatus, the spotted forktail was described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1831

• Death of Louis Pierre Vieillot
• Christian Ludwig Brehm publishes Handbuch der Naturgeschichte alle Vögel Deutschlands
• Second voyage of HMS Beagle commences
• Adolphe Delattre makes the first of several trips to South America.
• Johann Friedrich von Brandt appointed director of the Zoological Department at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences
• Nicholas Aylward Vigors describes the great Indian bustard
• "Maison Deyrolle" established in Paris.