The Birds of Australia (Classic Reprint)

This book is the complementary volume to The Animals of A ustralia, Mammals, Eeptiles, and A mphibians, of the same authors and publishers. As it was impossible to give a reasonable account of all the A ir-breathing Vertebrates of Australia in one volume, the account of the Birds was reserved for the present work. The object and plan of this, as of the former, book are to serve the needs of the naturalist and to provide matter of interest for the general reader, by giving accurate descriptions and illustrations, and adding as much popular information as is available concerning habits and habitats. In order to avoid rendering the volume too bulky and too heterogeneous in character, we have refrained from speculations and general disquisitions. It seemed wiser to present the facts in an ordered manner, and to leave for other publications the more general features of our A vi-fauna, relationships, and origins. As in the case of The A nimals, while advantage has been taken of personal knowledge, we have drawn largely on other publications on Australian Birds. The classification is that of JD r. Bowdler Sharpe s Hand-list of Birds, made more readily available by the publication of Mr. Gregory M. Mathew s Hand-list of Australian Birds, in The Emu, 1908. We gladly acknowledge our deep indebtedness to the various authors of the magnificent series of Descriptive Catalogues published by the authorities of the British Museum. We have included as nearly a complete account as possible of species described in Australia by Mr. A. J. North, of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and by Messrs. A. J. Campbell, Robert Hall, and others referred to in the text. We have drawn largely for accounts of habits on The Emu, and The Victorian Naturalist, and occasionally quote other periodical publications.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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