The Birdwatcher's Companion to North American Birdlife

About this book

First published more than twenty years ago, this volume has been fully revised and updated. It provides accounts of the basic elements of birdlife, as well as a wealth of easy-to-access information on such subjects as bird physiology and anatomy, terms and jargon, name definitions and etymology, and ornithological groupings. Biographical sketches of persons responsible for describing or naming a significant number of North American species are also included.

Contents

List of Illustrations ix Foreword xi Introduction xiii Acknowledgments xv How to Use This Book xvii The Companion 1 Appendix I: Checklist of North American Birds 899 Appendix II: Checklist of Casual and Accidental Species 935 Appendix III: Alternative Phylogeny of North American Bird Families 947 Appendix IV: Classification of Major Categories of Extinct Birds 951 Appendix V: Exotic Species 953 Appendix VI: Birdwatcher's Calendar 955 Bibliography 963

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Biography

Christopher W. Leahy holds the Gerard A. Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field Ornithology at the Massachusetts Audubon Society. He is the author of "The Nature of Massachusetts" and "First Guide to Insects". Gordon Morrison has been a nature illustrator for over thirty-five years, and has illustrated more than two dozen books on natural history.