lamdha books -
Catalogue of books on birds

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76442 Albus, Anita (Gerald Chapple, trans.) On Rare Birds New South Books, University New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2011. Quarto; hardcover, with decorated boards and endpapers; 276pp., with many colour & monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; near fine in like dustwrapper. This book tells the compelling stories of ten rare or extinct bird species - from the tragic demise of the once abundant passenger pigeon to the shooting death of the last Carolina Parakeet in the wild, and from the startling natural defenses of the 'willful Nightjar' to the diverse cultural significance of the Kingfisher. Some stories bear sad witness to precious species we have lost, but they are all fascinating and often heart-warming or humorous depictions of the unique lives and loves of birds. Click here to order $25

98613 Audubon, John James (Foreword by Leslie A. Morris; Introduction by Richard Rhodes; Scientific Commentary by Scott V. Edwards; Jennifer Snodgrass, ed.) Audubon Early Drawings The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 2008. Landscape quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 252pp., with many colour illustrations. Minor wear. No dustwrapper as issued. Fine in a slightly rubbed slipcase with a tipped-on illustrated label. "One of the great pleasures of [this book], with its lavish reproductions and scientific notes, is that it allows us to see the naturalist turning into the artist, laboring not merely to give his birds scientific accuracy but an almost uncanny life force. In his excellent introduction, Richard Rhodes, the author of a superb biography of Audubon, emphasizes the degree to which Audubon was obsessed with giving dead birds life. This was an artistic problem, but it seems to have had a quasi-mystical quality for Audubon as well. He wanted the creature, drained of life and colour, to spread its wings again. Audubon tried various strategies - hanging the birds from the ceiling by a foot or beak with their wings spread - though the early results were dismal until he hit on a special system: a board covered with sharpened wires in the form of a grid. He impaled the dead bird in a lifelike pose of his own devising and then transferred the bird's likeness to paper, similarly marked with a grid, to ensure proportional accuracy. The book's centerpiece consists of the 116 drawings, reproduced in large format and full color, made during Audubon's first decade in the United States (though the volume includes renderings of European birds made during a visit back to France in 1805.) While this is apprentice work, and many of the birds hold the upright patient pose of a businessman sitting for a portrait, there are several drawings that carry the signature animation that became Audubon's hallmark, whether in the case of a gray catbird opening its wings or a belted kingfisher with the hairstyle and charisma of a punk rocker." - Jonathan Rosen. Click here to order $80

216080 Barrett, Geoff; Andrew Silcocks; Simon Barry; Ross Cunningham; Rory Poulter The New Atlas of Australian Birds Royal Australian Ornithologists Union, Hawthorn East, 2003. First edition. Large quarto hardcover; illustrated boards; 824pp., monochrome illustrations, distribution maps in black and red; appendices (5). Minor wear only; one or two very faint marks on side edges; small bump on head of spine. No dustwrapper as issued. Near fine. The idea of an Australian bird atlas based on data collected by volunteer observers (atlassers) was first mooted in 1972. Because of the daunting scale of the task, however, to test feasibility, a pilot atlas was carried out on the southern coast of New South Wales from March 1973 to September 1974 with 168 volunteers covering an area of 13,600 square kilometres. Some 20 years after the commencement of fieldwork for the first Atlas, in 1997, Birds Australia began negotiations with Environment Australia towards obtaining funding for a new atlas project. In 1998, a grant from the Natural Heritage Trust's Bushcare and Wetlands programs was approved. Fieldwork began in August 1998 and has continued since, though after about four years there was a funding cut-off as well as a deadline for book publication purposes late in 2002. Methodology was based on that of the first Atlas but improved by the use of GPS receivers and scannable survey sheets. During the four-year period over 7,000 atlassers completed 279,000 surveys, producing 4.7 million records of 772 bird species. Coverage was greater than the first Atlas since, as well as the Australian continent and major islands, the second Atlas included records from Australia's territorial waters and the external territories of Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island. As with the first Atlas, the results have been published as "The New Atlas of Australian Birds" Click here to order $300

56292 Beolens, Bo & Michael Watkins Whose Bird? Men and women commemorated in the common names of birds Christopher Helm, London, 2003. Paperback, octavo, 400pp., monochrome illustrations. Cover edges and corners slightly worn; bumped head of spine; creased corners. Else very good. Birders often wonder who exactly is being commemorated in the names of many of our most familiar bird species. Was Bonaparte's Gull named after Napoleon? "Whose Bird?" answers this kind of question and many more by presenting - in a handy A-Z format - a potted biography of every individual who has ever given their name to a species of bird. In total, 2,246 birds and 1,124 people are covered. With many astonishing and bizarre details, this is a sui generis compendium. Click here to order $18

209604 Bodio, Stephen An Eternity of Eagles The Human History of the Most Fascinating Bird in the World Lyons Press, Guilford, 2012. Octavo hardcover; black boards with gilt spine titling; 202pp., colour & monochrome illustrations. Mild rubbing to dustwrapper. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. An Eternity of Eagles follows Bodio's book about his travels with the hunters of Mongolia, Eagle Dreams. He provides reproductions of paintings by such artists as John James Audubon, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Emil Doepler and especially the Russian Vadim Gorbatov, whose paintings and color photography of Kazakh and Mongolian eagle-falconers add another dimension to the narrative and complement the author's own photography. Bodio comprehensively covers the world of eagles, including golden eagles, bald eagles, the endangered Philippine monkey eating eagle and the huge harpies of Africa and South America. He also provides a history of humans' relations with the bird. Particularly interesting are a petroglyph from Kazakhstan from about 1300-1200 B.C. and a Chinese hunting scene featuring a hare chased by hounds, an eagle and a hunter on horseback, circa A.D. 350-450. Kazakhs hunt wolves and deer and other creatures with eagles from horseback, and Bodio thinks the ancestors of the Kazakhs may have been the first to hunt this way. He provides eyewitness accounts from publications by travellers and discusses how the birds are captured and trained to hunt. The author also includes a chapter on how these noble creatures were, for a long time, treated as vermin, hunted from the ground and air and poisoned. In the United States, these practices have been outlawed and bird numbers are recovering. - Kirkus review Click here to order $24

86965 Boles, Walter E. The Robins & Flycatchers of Australia Angus & Robertson, North Ryde NSW, 1988. Quarto; hardcover; 508pp., with many colour illustrations. Minor wear; a few internal marks and spots. Otherwise very good to near fine in like dustwrapper. Inhabitants, for the most part, of woods and forests, these birds, widely known as robins, flycatchers and monarchs, are largely insectivorous and arboreal, though many robins forage on the ground. Although a few, such as the thrushes, are introduced, the majority of species are native and represent a cluster of families that, according to recent studies, appear to have their origins in Australia. Lucid, informative narratives introduce each species group, while synopses present a summary of fascinating details about such aspects as habitat, breeding and world distribution. Fine colour photographs portray the biology of each species - its behaviour, nest, eggs, young, appearance at rest and in flight and its various plumages. Click here to order $100

217298 Brunner, Bernd (trans. Jane Billinghurst) Birdmania: A Remarkable Passion for Birds Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2017. Gate-fold octavo paperback; 292pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear only; a few scattered spots on text block edges. Very good. There is no denying that many people are crazy for birds. Packed with intriguing facts and exquisite and rare artwork, Birdmania showcases an eclectic and fascinating selection of bird devotees who would do anything for their feathered friends. In addition to well-known enthusiasts, such as Aristotle, Charles Darwin, and Helen Macdonald, Brunner introduces readers to Karl Russ, the pioneer of "bird rooms" and lover of the Australian budgerigar, who had difficulty renting lodgings when landlords realised who he was; George Lupton, a wealthy Yorkshire lawyer, who commissioned the theft of uniquely patterned eggs every year for twenty years from the same unfortunate female guillemot who never had a chance to raise a chick; Ambrose Pratt who leaves us a beautiful example of a devoted relationship between a lyre bird and an Australian hermit; Mervyn Shorthouse, who posed as a wheelchair-bound invalid to steal an estimated ten thousand eggs from the Natural History Museum in Tring; and Tibbles the 19th century cat, who belonged to the lighthouse keeper on Stephens Island in New Zealand, and who collected many of Lord Walter Rothschild's bird samples. As this book illustrates, people who love birds, whether they are amateurs or professionals, are as captivating and varied as the birds that give flight to their dreams. Click here to order $20

204717 Cayley, Neville W. The Fairy Wrens of Australia Blue Birds of Happiness Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1949. Hardcover, quarto; blue boards with upper board and spine gilt titling; 88pp., monochrome and colour plates, top edges dyed blue, coloured bird decoration on title page. Minor wear; spotting to text block edges; slightly worn and frayed board corners and edges. Well-rubbed yellow illustrated dustwrapper with slight discolouration along front fore-edge; tiny missing segment on upper front edge and some scraping and chipping to spine panel extremities. Very good and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film with white paper backing. Click here to order $75

95667 Davies, Stephen J.J.F. (Mike Bamford & Danika Loomes, illus.) Ratites and Tinamous - Bird Families of the World Tinamidae, Rheidae, Dromaiidae, Casuariidae, Apterygidae, Struthionidae Oxford University Press, Oxford UK, 2002. First edition: quarto; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titles; 310pp., with maps and diagrams and 12pp. of colour plates. Minor wear; corners bumped; a slight bump to the centre of the upper board. Dustwrapper mildly edgeworn (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good. The book covers the evolution, biology and natural history of the group of flightless birds that includes ostriches, emus, cassowaries and kiwis - the Ratites and their relatives, the Tinamous. It reviews the scientific studies that have been made of their ecology, behaviour, physiology, husbandary, evolution, mythology and conservation. Each of the 55 species is described in detail, with maps of the present known distribution, accounts their food and nesting habits, calls, field identification, habitat and relationship with humans, including farming. It is the first such comprehensive account of the groups since 1877, and the first to bring together comprehensive information about the tinamous, little known birds of the Americas. It reviews the long debated subject of the evolution of these groups, highlighting new evidence that has turned many old theories on their head. Click here to order $170

216044 Dooley, Sean (illus. Matt Clare) Anoraks to Zitting Cisticola: A Whole Lot of Stuff About Bird Watching: signed copy Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2007. Paperback: octavo; 270pp., with monochrome illustrations. Inscribed in ink by the author. Mild wear; foxing to early pages; spotting to text block edges and mild edgewear to covers. Very good. Click here to order $17

90224 Elphick, Jonathan Birds The Art of Ornithology Allen & Unwin, Crow's Nest NSW, 2014. Quarto hardcover; beige boards with green spine titling and green endpapers; 335pp., colour plates and illustrations. Minor wear; mild rubbing to lower board edges. Near fine in like dustwrapper with very slight wear to head of spine. This beautiful books tells the story of the development of bird art through the ages. It range from the early decorative - but often fanciful - images of birds, through more accurate portrayals resulting from exploration and an increasing knowledge of the world's avifauna, to modern attempts at capturing these, the freest of all creatures. Birds contains an outstanding selection of images from the unrivalled collection of the Natural History Museum in London, some of which have never been reproduced before, and includes exquisitely crafted works from some of the most famous natural-history artists. The lively text interweaves fascinating ornithological information with accounts of the lives of the artists, details of the development of the techniques they used and a critical appraisal of their achievements. Click here to order $35

210110 Gould, John Handbook to the Birds of Australia A New Edition Lansdowne Press Pty. Ltd., Melbourne Vic., 1972. Facsimile reprint: thick octavo; hardcover, full leather with gilt spine and upper board titles and decorative endpapers; 629pp., top edges dyed brown, with a monochrome portrait frontispiece. Moderate wear; a little shaken; boards somewhat scuffed and spotted; text block edges marked and lightly stained and top edge dusted. No dustwrapper. Very good. Click here to order $50

15248 Gould, John (selected and edited by A.H. Chisholm & Vincent Serventy) John Gould's The Birds of Australia Lansdowne Press, 1973 Large quarto hardcover; dark red boards with gilt spine titling and red endpapers; 116pp, 96 colour plates. Minor wear; lightly toned and spotted text block edges. Illustrated white dustwrapper with two inch tear on upper spine edge and tiny tear with chipping on head of spine, now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good A selection of 96 plates from John Gould's pioneering Birds of Australia (7 vols, 1840-1848), each entry containing a brief excerpt from Gould's text with details of distribution, food and nest supplied by the editors. Click here to order $75

94518 Hancock, James & Hugh Elliott (illus. Robert Gillmor and Peter Hayman; foreword Roger Tory Peterson) The Herons of the World London editions, London, 1978. Folio hardcover; green cloth boards with gilt spine titling, grey endpapers; 304pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; browning to page edges and mild spotting to text block edges; dustwrapper faded along spine and edges. Very good otherwise and wrapper professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. In the nineteenth century a fine tradition of large-scale ornithological monographs arose, probably originated by John Gould. Such colourful groups as kingfishers, rollers and jacamars were described in this way. We see a return to this tradition in this folio volume on the herons. European, and especially British, birdwatchers, as Roger Peterson points out in the introduction, are liable to think in terms of 'the heron' as the grey heron used to be rather insularly called in The Handbook of British Birds. But American, and even southern European, birdwatchers have many more to hand and will find this volume doubly useful. Herons being large and conspicuous birds, though bitterns and some other species do skulk in swamps and dense vegetation, they have been much studied in recent years. So the authors had a huge mass of fresh information to assimilate, especially with such well known and widespread species as the grey heron and the cattle egret. The book provides admirable summaries for each species under the headings of distribution, migration, habitat, general appearance, identification, behaviour and taxonomy. There are also good introductory chapters on classification, plumage and moult, breeding, feeding, migration and dispersal and conservation. Herons of the World is pleasantly discursive and can be read, not just consulted. - from Cambridge University reviews Click here to order $40

94425 Heinrich, Bernd The Homing Instinct: The Story and Science of Migration William Collins, London, 2014. Hardcover, octavo; black boards with silver gilt spine titling and decoration, dark beige endpapers; 352pp., monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; mildly toned text block edges. Near fine otherwise in like dustwrapper. Heinrich explores the fascinating science behind the mysteries of animal migration: how geese imprint true visual landscape memory over impossible distances; how the subtlest of scent trails are used by many creatures, from fish to insects to amphibians, to pinpoint their home; and how the tiniest of songbirds are equipped for solar and magnetic orienteering over vast distances. Most movingly, Heinrich chronicles the spring return of a pair of sandhill cranes to their pond in the Alaska tundra. With his marvellously evocative prose, Heinrich portrays the psychological state of the newly arrived birds, articulating just what their yearly return truly means, to the birds and to those fortunate enough to witness this transcendentally beautiful ritual. The Homing Instinct is an enchanting study of this phenomenon of the natural world, reminding us that to discount our own feelings toward home is to ignore biology itself. Click here to order $20

91560 Hollands, David Owls: Journeys Around the World Bloomings Books, Melbourne, 2004. Quarto hardcover; illustrated boards with white lower board and spine titling, grey endpapers; 236pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear only; rubbing to dustwrapper. Near fine otherwise in like dustwrapper. "I have a passion for owls. It has been there for longer than I can remember and shows no sign of going away. Some of my friends regard it as a disease or an obscure form of insanity and there seems no doubt that, once caught, the condition is lifelong and incurable. Surely no normal man would forsake his bed to spend his nights in the darkness of the forest, listening for a sound which might never come at all," writes the author. Beginning in 1961, but mostly in the last ten years, he has travelled to every continent except Antarctica, looking for owls, studying and photographing them, experiencing the countries where they live and meeting many remarkable people along the way. The result is an amalgam of all these things; a book, not just about owls but also about their dwindling habitat and the remarkable people who interact and care for them. The essays are stimulating and evocative, taking the reader with the author on a succession of journeys. They contain a wealth of owl observation and information and convey the wonder of these mysterious birds, the variety of their lifestyles and the fascinating places where they live. Click here to order $35

84199 [John Gould] Datta, Ann John Gould in Australia Letters and drawings The Miegunyah Press/Melbourne University Press, Carlton South, Vic., Australia. 1997. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 502pp., with many monochrome and full-colour illustrations. Mild spotting of the text block top edge; some softening of the spine heel; old security tag on the last page. Dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Fine. In 1838 John Gould and his artist wife Elizabeth arrived in Australia to spend nineteen months studying and recording the natural history of the continent. By the time they left Gould had not only recorded most of Australia's known birds and collected information on nearly 200 new species, he had also gathered data for a major contribution to the study of Australian mammals. In connection with his work in Australia Gould amassed a voluminous correspondence which is today housed in The Natural History Museum, London. This collection of more than 3000 items is of immense importance for the light it throws on Gould's working methods and for its historical value to Australian ornithology. A selection from these letters is presented here, together with a catalogue containing detailed summaries of the contents of every item. Click here to order $250

205680 [John Gould] Gould F.R.S., John The Birds of Australia - eight volumes Lansdowne Press, Melbourne Vic., 1972-1975. Facsimile reprint: eight volumes, folio; hardcover, full publisher's vinyl with gilt spine titles and board and spine decorations with decorative endpapers; unpaginated (1,554pp. [212pp. + 220pp. + 200pp. + 214pp. + 190pp. + 170pp. + 178pp. + 170pp.]), top edges dyed brown, with 686 colour plates. Minor wear. Some wrinkling, tears and edgewear to the protective Mylar wrappers. Near fine. With the obsession of a collector and an eye for artistic talent, John Gould succeeded in creating one of the most recognisable and long-lasting brand names in natural history. Gould is best remembered for his folio volumes of superb colour-plate illustrations of birds. In all, 2999 unique images were produced for these publications, many were the first illustrations of previously unknown species. This extraordinary output was the result of Gould's drive and business acumen as well as an ability to develop a strong international group of specimen collectors, artists and administrative agents. Gould relied on his group of dedicated artists, lithographers and colourers to translate his preparatory sketches into finished illustrations. Only 250 copies were made of the original seven-volume set and these were accompanied by a further eighth supplemental volume in later years. This Lansdowne Press facsimile edition, compiled between the years 1972 to 1975, is a more affordable version of the publication, although it too is starting to become increasingly rare. Click here to order $3000

95671 Jones, Darryl N., Rene W.R.J. Dekker & Cees S. Roselaar (Ber van Perlo, illus.) The Megapodes - signed Bird Families of the World Oxford University Press, Oxford UK, 1995. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 262pp., with maps and diagrams and 8pp. of colour plates. Mild wear; signed by Darryl Jones in ink on the title page; text block top edge spotted; light corner-bumping. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed and edgeworn; spine panel mildly sunned; spotted on the verso (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good. This book describes and illustrates the 22 species in this interesting family distributed over Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, The Philippines, the Nicobar Islands and some southwest Pacific islands. Sometimes known as thermometer birds, some megapodes incubate their eggs in carefully constructed mounds of rotting vegetation which they manipulate to regulate the temperature, while others dig burrows in warm sand and deposit their eggs there. They are the only birds known to use external heat sources rather than body heat for incubation. The young emerge fully able to look after themselves and receive no parental care. Megapodes are heavy-bodied birds of the forest floor, opportunistically foraging for insects, seeds, and fallen fruit. Although they can fly, most species move primarily by walking. The physiological, ecological and behavioural adaptations of these birds are fully explored and are accompanied by colour plates by Ber van Perlo showing adults and chicks of all species. Click here to order $75

216052 Kingsford, Richard Australian Waterbirds: A Field Guide Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1994. Octavo paperback; 129pp., map endpapers and colour illustrations. Minor wear only; very good. Click here to order $17

68417 Lendon, Alan H. Australian Parrots in Field and Aviary The Comprehensive Revised Edition of Cayley's Standard Work Angus & Robertson, Sydney NSW, 1979. Reprint. Hardcover, octavo, 342pp., monochrome illustrations. Light spotting to text block edges; a little rubbing to lower board edges; upper portion of dustwrapper faded; else fine and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $25

200505 Mannering, Eva (ed.) Gould's Tropical Birds Golden Ariels/The Ariel Press Ltd., London, 1964. Quarto; hardcover, decorated papered boards with upper board titles; 12pp., with 23pp. of colour plates. Mild wear; mild wear to the board edges; some spotting to the text block edges; mild offset to the endpapers; previous owner's name in ink to the half-title page. Dustwrapper is mildly rubbed; edgeworn with a few small tears and associated creasing; spotted on the verso; now backed by archival-quality white paper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $30

216097 Marchant, S. & P.J. Higgins (co-ordinators and eds.: vols 1, 2, 3); P.J. Higgins (vol. 4); P.J. Higgins, J.M. Peter & W.K. Steele (vol. 5); P.J. Higgins & J.M. Peter (vol. 6); P.J. Higgins, J.M. Peter & S.J. Cowling Vol. 7); colour illustrations: J.N. Davies, P. Marsack, F. Knight, B. Jarrett, M.J. Bamford, N. Day, P. Slater, K. Franklin, D.J. Onley, M. Oberhofer & J. Luck Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: set of seven volumes in nine parts Vol. 1: Ratites to Ducks - Part A: Ratites to Petrels, Part B: Australian Pelican to Ducks; Vol.2: Raptors to Lapwings; Vol.3: Snipe to Pigeons; Vol.4: Parrots to Dollarbird; Vol.5: Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats; Vol.6: Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes; Vol.7: Boatbill to Starlings - Part A: Boatbill to Larks, Part B: Dunnock to Starlings Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998, 1993, 1996,1999, 2001, 2002 & 2006. First editions (except Vol.1 Part A): royal octavo hardcovers; blue cloth boards with gilt spine titles, map endpapers; 1400 + 984 + 1028 + 1248 + 1269 + 1225 + 1984pp., colour plates & monochrome illustrations, black, white and red distribution maps, tables, appendices and indexes. Minor wear only; mild rubbing to board edges; occasional faint scattered spots on text block edges; a few scattered spots on rear endpaper verso of Vol. 1, Part A. Small bookseller's sticker to pastedowns of Vols 7 Parts A & B. All dustwrappers now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. Gazetteer of Place Names laid in to Vol.2. "The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) is one of the world's major ornithological projects. This seven volume set, realises the vision to publish a comprehensive summary of our knowledge of all the known bird species that have been recorded in Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.HANZAB is arguably the most important scientific natural history publication ever produced in Australia. It draws together, analyses and synthesizes our knowledge of the abundance, habitat and behaviour of all the birds of the region. As such it is the most comprehensive and reliable source of information on birds currently available for anyone working towards the conservation of this environment. HANZAB is of great value to a wide readership and is used by research establishments, universities, government departments, conservationists, environmental consultancies, ornithologists and amateur naturalists. The last comprehensive handbooks for Australia and New Zealand were Gregory Mathews' Birds of Australia, published between 1912 and 1927, and W.R.B. Oliver's New Zealand Birds, last published in 1955. HANZAB incorporates the enormous amount of scientific research done since Mathews' and Oliver's books were published, and widens the regional scope to include Antarctica, the subantarctic islands, and Christmas, Cocos-Keeling, Lord Howe, Norfolk, Chatham and Kermadec Islands.The species-by-species accounts provide a complete reference to all aspects of the ecology and behaviour of each bird, as well as full descriptions of their plumages and field identification characters. The paintings provide a unique, beautiful and scientifically accurate record of the full range of each species' plumages. Comprehensive lists of references with the species accounts and the results of new research make HANZAB an indispensable research tool." - Natural History Book Service Click here to order $5000

76788 North, Alfred J. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania Volume One Oxford University Press, Melbourne Vic., 1984. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 366pp., with many monochrome illustrations. Moderate wear; boards discoloured and wear to edges and corners. Light pink discolouration to rear panel of dustwrapper; minor edgewear; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. This is one of the great works of Australian ornithology. Publication of the first volume, known as the Australian Museum special Catalogue, began in 1901 and was completed in 1904. Another three volumes appeared in the next ten years. It was immediately acclaimed as a major achievement, one reviewer describing it as 'really more of a life history of our 'birds' than a catalogue on nests and eggs, and it has remained a much-loved and invaluable document for ornithologists, amateur and professional, ever since. North, who was virtually Australia's only professional ornithologist at the turn of the century, endeavoured to present detailed information on the eggs, nests and breeding habits of all Australian birds. In this facsimile edition Walter Boles testifies in the foreword that 'Most of North's information is still valid... it has been supplemented but rarely replaced". Click here to order $60

91245 Olsen, Jerry Australian High Country Raptors CSIRO, Collingwood Vic., 2014. Large octavo paperback; 324pp., colour and monochrome plates and illustrations. Mild rubbing and wear to cover edges. Near fine otherwise. Australian High Country Raptors covers raptor species that regularly breed in the high country above 600 metres, from Goulburn in New South Wales down to the hills outside Melbourne, Victoria. Author Jerry Olsen explores the nature of these striking animals that are classified as Accipitriformes (diurnal hawks, falcons, kites and eagles), Falconiformes and Strigiformes (nocturnal owls). Comparisons between these high country raptors and lower-elevation breeders are also provided, in addition to comparisons with raptors found overseas, especially from North America and Europe. Click here to order $30

89382 Olsen, Penny Cayley & Son: The Life and Art of Neville Henry Cayley & Neville William Cayley National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT, 2013. Quarto hardcover; illustrated orange boards and endpapers; 227pp., colour illustrations. Dustwrapper. Remainder. New. Peripatetic, often impecunious, and with a reputation for hard drinking, Neville Henry was nevertheless a highly talented artist, whose dreams of publishing a 'big bird book' - a comprehensive publication on Australian birds - never came to fruition. His son Neville William was also a keen artist. 'Buoyant' in personality, sometimes outspoken and argumentative, he was a pioneer of the surf lifesaving movement before turning his attention to the painting of birds. Taking a more scientific approach than his father, he was to complete the classic field guide known to bird enthusiasts throughout Australia: What Bird is That? Cayley & Son features a biographical essay on each of the two men, followed by a portfolio of their paintings. With over 100 colour plates of works from the collections of the National Library of Australia, the work can also be seen as both a social history of Australia and as a barometer of changing attitudes to wildlife and its conservation. Click here to order $25

54405 Olsen, Penny Feather and Brush CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2001. Quarto, hardcover; blue boards with gilt spine titling, blue endpapers; 227pp., Colour plates and illustrations. Minor wear; mild fraying to lower board corners; slight rubbing to dustwrapper, mildly sunned spine. Very good to near fine and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Traces the 300 year history of Australian bird art and contains more than 250 images representing the work of a hundred artists. Click here to order $150

216081 Parry, Veronica A. Kookaburras Taplinger, New York, 1972. Quarto hardcover; dark red boards with gilt spine titling; 109pp, colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; well-browned and spotted text block edges; faint offsetting to the endpapers. Illustrated dustwrapper with one inch tear on upper rear corner and very slightly sunned spine panel and adjacent; minimal wear to edges (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good. The author first heard the 'laughter' of the kookaburra when working part-time in San Diego Zoo. She was fascinated by the sound and would go to work early just to hear it. She dreamed of visiting Australia and studying the bird in its natural bushland setting. Two years later Professor Marshall of Melbourne's Monash University offered her a postgraduate scholarship. The kookaburra, or laughing jackass, Dacelo gigas, is a member of the kingfisher family and feeds mainly on large insects and small reptiles and amphibians. At a maximum of 47 cm in length, and with a 10-cm bill, the kookaburra is larger than most kingfishers, but its brown and tan plumage is drab by the standards of the family. Kookaburras nest during the spring and lay 2 to 4 white eggs in tree holes or termite nests. Their loud cries, which resemble human laughter and are typically chorused at dawn and dusk, are one of the characteristic sounds of the Australian bush. Click here to order $30

92308 Pint-Correia, Clara Return of the Crazy Bird The Sad, Strange Tale of the Dodo Copernicus Books/Springer-Verlag New York Inc. New York NY, 2003. Octavo; hardcover, quarter-bound in papered boards with gilt spine-titles; 216pp., with maps and many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; some spotting to the text block top edge. Dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. The dodo went from being newly discovered to extinction in little more than a century. This flightless, odd-looking bird was seen for the first time by Europeans and then annihilated by Europeans all between the early sixteenth and the second half of the seventeenth century. By the nineteenth century all that remained of the 'crazy bird' was a patchwork of tall tales, contradictory reports, incompatible illustrations and a single dodo's skull and foot. The dodo had become, in short an unsolvable puzzle that persisted in art, literature and scientific speculation. This book considers this bumbling and ungainly creature in our collective scientific and literary imaginations from its island paradise of Mauritius to its ill-fated and unseemly extinction. Click here to order $25

216051 Pizzey, Graham Journey of a Lifetime Selected Pieces by Australia's Foremost Birdwatcher and Nature Writer Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 2000. Octavo paperback; 292pp., monochrome map. Well-browned and spotted text block and page edges; foxing to title page; rubbed covers with wear to edges and corners, spine creased. Good to very good. Click here to order $20

209574 Robin, Libby The Flight of the Emu A Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 Melbourne University Press, 2001. Hardcover, royal octavo; white boards with gilt spine titling, blue endpapers; 492pp., colour and monochrome plates and illustrations. Rubbing to board edges and corners, one or two tiny marks on upper board; front endpaper clipped at corner; a few faint spots on upper text block. Very good to near fine. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. The Flight of the Emu tells the story of Australian birding in the twentieth century. The Emu is the journal of the former Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union, now known as Birds Australia. In this engrossing book, Libby Robin describes the achievements and the increasing importance of ornithology in Australia - both amateur and professional - over the past hundred years. From Bass Strait to the Kimberley, collectors have searched for and identified hundreds of species of Australian birds. This is a discipline in which exceptional amateur contributions have helped to shape science. Libby Robin explores the tensions between amateur and professional ornithologists, and discusses issues of conservation and environmental management, scientific collecting, smuggling and bird protection. She tells stories from campouts, expeditions and congresses derived from oral history, letters and 'reading between the lines' of published reports. The search for the Night Parrot, the protection of the Lyrebird, the identification of the Noisy Scrub-bird, have all involved enthusiastic bird lovers as well as scientists. Ornithological research takes place in museums, universities, government agencies, community groups and the CSIRO. Bird-banding has introduced many people to the passion of ornithology, as well as providing a method of valuable data-collection about birds. The Flight of the Emu also details international scientific expeditions and the influences of Australian birds on international debates. 'Birdos' have a great sense of humour, and the pleasure and fun of bird watching, whether it be serious scientific observation, 'twitching' or just a relaxing hobby, comes through strongly in this clear, friendly and richly-illustrated book. Click here to order $30

15243 Sauer, Gordon C. John Gould, The Bird Man: A Chronology and Bibliography Lansdowne Editions, 1982. Quarto, hardcover; green boards with teal endpapers; 416pp., 36 colour and numerous monochrome plates. Slightly cocked; browned and spotted text block edges; mild offsetting to the endpapers. Illustrated dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Provides all the basic data on Gould's life, his works, his family, his associates and his times. Click here to order $50

203756 Scofield, Paul, & Brent Stephenson Birds of New Zealand A Photographic Guide Yale University Press, New York NY, 2013. Octavo; flexibound paperback; 544pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Remainder. New. Click here to order $35

54537 Serventy, Vincent N (Senior ed.) The Waterbirds of Australia The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, 1985. Quarto hardcover; black boards with gray upper board and spine titling, black endpapers; 331pp., colour plates. Mild rubbing to board corners and slight wear to dustwrapper edges. Otherwise minor wear only; near fine in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Most waterbirds are large and conspicuous though some are rare and obscure. Few sights in nature are more spectacular than a vast ibis rookery in the Riverina, or whistling-ducks in dense camps of thousands in remote tropical swamps of the Top End, black swans congregating in huge flocks on extensive lakes, or grebes courting in some quiet backwater of a cumbungi swamp. Sadly, many waterbirds are threatened by loss of habitat, as vast areas of wetlands continue to be drained, polluted or otherwise altered for irrigation, flood control, urban development and sport. The Waterbirds of Australia, while providing serious and comprehensive reference, also captures the variety and elegance of these splendid birds. Technical data - identification of species, habitat, nest, diet and so on are set out separately, together with a distribution map, while John Douglas Pringle, from a mass of records and scientific reports has distilled eminently readable accounts of the way of life and history of each of the waterbirds described here. Click here to order $120

50819 Sitwell, Sacheverell, Handasyde Buchanan & James Fisher (Foreword by S. Dillon Ripley) Fine Bird Books 1700-1900 H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd., London, 1990. Quarto; hardcover, full cloth with gilt spine titles; 180pp., with a colour frontispiece and many illustrations likewise. Mild wear; board edges and spine extremities lightly sunned. Dustwrapper heavily sunned along the upper and lower panel edges and spine panel; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Through its superb visual record and its comprehensive bibliographic catalogue, Fine Bird Books: 1700-1900 provides collectors with an unparalleled introduction to the great natural history books and prints. Not limited to catologuing a single library or collection, nor being a strictly scientific compilation, the bibliography encompasses the breadth of two centuries of exquisite colorplate books with the collector in mind. The field is not confined to the giants of the era, such as John Gould and John James Audubon; it includes more obscure but no less superb works such as Descourtilz's Oiseaux brillans du Bresil of which fewer than ten copies are known to exist. The index leads the reader to the scattered contributions of individual authors, artists and printmakers, from the rare excellence of Dietzsch to the accomplished prolificacy of Keulemans in the late nineteenth century. We have added to Sacheverell Sitwell's original text Handasyde Buchanan's Appendix to define the language of connoisseurship which allows a collector to know and discuss prints with precision. (from the note to the new edition) Click here to order $40

216085 Terauds, Aleks & Fiona Stewart Albatross: Elusive Mariners of the Southern Ocean: signed copy New Holland, Frenchs Forest, 2005. Quarto hardcover; blue illustrated boards with white upper board and spine titling, decorated endpapers; 175pp., colour illustrations. Inscribed to owner. Mild scraping to board corners and small mark on side text block edge. Slightly rubbed illustrated blue dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. The majestic Albatross captures the hearts of most people who have experienced their grace and beauty. These enormous birds travel the oceans of the world, their vast wingspans carrying them far from their breeding grounds. Only five species breed in Australian waters: the Wandering Albatross; the Black-browed Albatross; the grey-headed Albatross and the Light-mantled Sooty Albatross- all breed on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island; the Shy Albatross breeds only around Tasmania. These are long-lived seabirds that are characterised by a late onset of sexual maturity, single-egg clutches, low breeding success and naturally high adult survivorship. Because of these traits albatrosses, at both population and species levels are exceptionally vulnerable to high mortality rates and recovery of populations is slow, particularly if the threat is ongoing. This book is illustrated with the author's beautiful and intimate photographs of the birds together with historic illustrations such as Gould's 'The Birds of Australia'. Click here to order $70

216045 Watling, Dick (illus. Chloe Talbot Kelly) A Guide to the Birds of Fiji & Western Polynesia Environmental Consultants, Suva, 2004. Gate-fold octavo paperback; 272pp., colour plates, monochrome maps, diagrams. Mild rubbing to covers, slight wear to corners and spine creased. Very good. Click here to order $85