Extinct Birds

by Fuller, Errol

• ISBN13: 9780801439544
• ISBN10: 080143954X
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Comstock Pub Assoc

Summary

We learn from an early age that nothing is quite so dead as a dodo. We've heard stories of flocks of passenger pigeons once darkening the skies over North America, only to be reduced to a single bird, Martha, who perished in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1914. Errol Fuller's gloriously illustrated Extinct Birds provides details of the natural history and fates of more than 80 species of birds now believed to be gone forever. In a lively, compelling style, Fuller conveys accurate scientific and historical information about the lives, times, and disappearances of bird species since 1600. Fuller's species accounts are vivid reminders of what birds, precisely, the world has already lost. The physical evidence provided by preserved specimens is given narrative texture with Fuller's use of eyewitness accounts of the lives (and, in many cases, the last days) of bird species from all over the world. Nearly all the accounts in Extinct Birds are illustrated with breathtaking color plates, many by artists, including Audubon, Keulemans, and Lear, who had the advantage of working from fresh specimens or even from living birds. These paintings, beautiful in their own right, are also primary sources of scientific knowledge. Birds for which appropriate illustrations did not already exist are shown in new paintings produced especially for this book. The revised edition of Extinct Birds includes several species-among them three from North America-not covered in the original 1987 edition. More happily, two species have been rediscovered in the intervening years, and several others in danger of being declared extinct have been located again. By describing in words and pictures the beauty and diversity of those birds already lost to extinction, Fuller inspires us to do what we can to prevent future editions of Extinct Birds from drawing new chapters from the field guides of today.

Author Biography

Errol Fuller is a painter of sporting subjects, particularly boxing, who lives in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, U.K.

Table of Contents

Preface	12	(2)
Introduction	14	(12)
Ratites	26	(26)
Aepyornis (Aepyornis maximus)	34	(1)
Slender Moa (Dinornis torosus)	35	(6)
Great Broad-billed Moa (Euryapteryx gravis)	41	(5)
Lesser Megalapteryx (Megalapteryx didinus)	46	(6)
Tinamous, Penguins, Divers, Grebes	52	(6)
Atitlan Grebe (Podilymbus gigas)	56	(2)
Albatrosses and Petrels	58	(6)
Guadalupe Storm Petrel (Oceanodroma macrodactyla)	62	(2)
Pelicans and Related Birds	64	(8)
Spectacled Cormorant (Phalacrocorax perspicillatus)	68	(4)
Herons, Storks and Related Birds	72	(6)
Rodrigues Night Heron (Nycticorax megacephalus)	76	(2)
Waterfowl	78	(20)
Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius)	85	(2)
Auckland Islands Merganser (Mergus australis)	87	(4)
Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea)	91	(5)
Korean Crested Shelduck (Tadorna cristata)	96	(2)
Birds of Prey	98	(8)
Guadalupe Caracara (Polyborus lutosus)	103	(3)
Gallinaceous Birds	106	(10)
New Zealand Quail (Coturnix novae-zelandiae)	111	(3)
Himalayan Mountain Quail (Ophrysia superciliosa)	114	(2)
Rails and Related Birds	116	(36)
Chatham Island Rail (Rallus modestus)	125	(2)
Wake Island Rail (Rallus wakensis)	127	(1)
Tahitian Red-billed Rail (Rallus pacificus)	128	(2)
Ascension Island Rail (Atlantisia elpenor)	130	(2)
Kusaie Island Crake (Porzana monasa)	132	(2)
Hawaiian Rail (Porzana sandwichensis)	134	(2)
Laysan Rail (Porzana palmeri)	136	(4)
Samoan Wood Rail (Gallinula pacifica)	140	(1)
Lord Howe Swamphen (Porphyrio albus)	141	(4)
Mauritius Red Hen (Aphanapteryx bonasia)	145	(4)
Leguat's Gelinote (Aphanapteryx leguati)	149	(3)
Gulls, Wading Birds and Murres	152	(16)
Great Auk (Alca impennis)	156	(7)
Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis)	163	(3)
Javanese Lapwing (Vanellus macropterus)	166	(1)
White-winged Sandpiper (Prosobonia leucoptera)	166	(2)
Pigeons and Doves	168	(38)
Liverpool Pigeon (Caloenas maculata)	174	(2)
Rodrigues Pigeon (?Columba rodericana)	176	(1)
Bonin Wood Pigeon (Columba versicolor)	177	(2)
Pigeon Hollandaise (Alectroenas nitidissima)	179	(3)
Forster's Dove of Tanna (?Gallicolumba ferruginea)	182	(1)
Marquesas Fruit Pigeon (Ptilinopus mercerii)	183	(2)
Choiseul Crested Pigeon (Microgoura meeki)	185	(3)
Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)	188	(6)
Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)	194	(9)
Rodrigues Solitary (Pezophaps solitaria)	203	(3)
Parrots	206	(38)
Paradise Parrot (Psephotus pulcherrimus)	216	(4)
Society Parakeet (Cyanoramphus ulietanus)	220	(2)
Black-fronted Parakeet (Cyanoramphus zealandicus)	222	(3)
Newton's Parakeet (Psittacula exsul)	225	(3)
Mascarene Parrot (Mascarinus mascarinus)	228	(2)
Broad-billed Parrot (Lophopsittacus mauritianus)	230	(2)
Rodrigues Parrot (Necropsittacus rodericanus)	232	(1)
Cuban Red Macaw (Ara tricolor)	233	(3)
Glaucus Macaw (Anodorhynchus glaucus)	236	(3)
Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis)	239	(5)
Cuckoos, Owls and Goatsuckers	244	(18)
Delalande's Coucal (Coua delalandei)	250	(1)
Rodrigues Little Owl (Athene murivora)	251	(1)
Laughing Owl (Sceloglaux albifacies)	252	(8)
Jamaica Least Pauraque (Siphonorhis americanus)	260	(2)
Kingfishers, Woodpeckers, Etc.	262	(14)
Ryukyu Kingfisher (Halcyon miyakoensis)	266	(1)
Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)	267	(7)
Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis)	274	(2)
Perching Birds	276	(100)
Stephen Island Wren (Xenicus lyalli)	307	(5)
New Zealand Bush Wren (Xenicus longipes)	312	(2)
Bay Thrush (?Turdus ulietensis)	314	(2)
Grand Cayman Thrush (Turdus ravidus)	316	(1)
Kittlitz's Thrush (Zoothera terrestris)	317	(1)
Piopio (Turnagra capensis)	318	(6)
Aldabran Brush Warbler (Nesillas aldabranus)	324	(2)
Lord Howe Island White-eye (Zosterops strenua)	326	(2)
Kioea (Chaetoptila angustipluma)	328	(1)
Hawaii `O`o (Moho nobilis)	329	(2)
Oahu `O`o (Moho apicalis)	331	(1)
Molokai `O`o (Moho bishopi)	332	(4)
Kauai `O`o (Moho braccatus)	336	(1)
Bachman's Warbler (Vermivora bachmanii)	337	(3)
Ula-ai-Hawane (Ciridops anna)	340	(2)
Koa `Finch' (Rhodacanthus palmeri)	342	(3)
Kona Grosbeak `Finch' (Chloridops kona)	345	(1)
Greater Amakihi (Hemignathus sagittirostris)	346	(2)
Akialoa (Hemignathus obscurus)	348	(3)
Mamo (Drepanis pacifica)	351	(3)
Black Mamo (Drepanis funerea)	354	(2)
Bonin Islands Grosbeak (Chaunoproctus ferreirostris)	356	(2)
Kusaie Island Starling (Aplonis corvina)	358	(1)
Mysterious Starling (Aplonis mavornata)	359	(2)
Norfolk and Lord Howe Starling (Aplonis fusca)	361	(3)
Bourbon Crested Starling (Fregilupus varius)	364	(2)
Rodrigues Starling (Fregilupus rodericanus)	366	(1)
Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris)	367	(9)
Hypothetical Species and Mystery Birds	376	(12)
Bibliography	388	(7)
Index	395