William Yarrell (3 June 1784 – 1 September 1856) was an English zoologist, prolific writer, bookseller and naturalist admired by his contemporaries for his precise scientific work.

[1] His father died in 1794 and the Yarrells moved the short distance to Great Ryder Street, where William lived the rest of his life.

He was acknowledged by John James Audubon both as a "valued friend" and for the information and "precious specimens of birds and eggs, collected in the desolate regions of the extreme north.

Yarrell also thanks John Thompson (1785–1866) and his sons for the "very long series of engravings" of the drawings, as well as his printers, Messrs. Bentley, Wilson and Fley.

[10] Both Yarrell's books were so popular that their publisher John van Voorst stated that sales exceeded £4,000.

[4] Thomas R. Forbes, in his biographical paper on Yarrell, writes that "All [editions of Birds] are outstanding because of the author's clear, narrative style, accuracy, careful scholarship and unassuming charm.

"[3] Yarrell's last paper, "On the Influence of the Sexual Organ in Modifying External Character" (1856), described an experiment that disproved the belief that when a stag lacks a healthy testicle, it will fail to grow an antler on that side of the body.

[3] Yarrell died during a trip to Great Yarmouth and a memorial was erected in St James's Church, Piccadilly.

He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's in Bayford, Hertfordshire, with his chosen epitaph "He was the survivor of twelve brothers and sisters, who, with their father and mother, are all placed close to this spot" together with William Wordsworth's lines "first and last, The earliest summon'd and the longest spared — Are here deposited.