- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford; 2nd Revised edition edition (3 May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0198508379
- ISBN-13: 978-0198508373
- Product Dimensions: 27.6 x 20.8 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,213,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Ornithologists estimate that there have been some 150,000 avian species since birds first appeared millions of years ago. Errol Fuller points out in Extinct Birds that if that figure, based on incomplete evidence, is correct, then nearly 94 percent of those species have gone extinct over time.
Most have done so through more or less natural causes--through disease, say, or widespread climatic change. In historic times, though, many species have been hastened to extinction through human actions, inadvertent or deliberate. In the case of the Hawaiian rail, Fuller writes in this catalogue of birds that have disappeared since 1600, the introduction of alien species such as the mongoose, domestic cat and rat is likely to blame. Rats, too, killed off the Lord Howe Island white-eye when a ship accidentally grounded there in 1918. The Carolina parakeet disappeared a few years later, owing, perhaps, to the destruction of its forest habitat and its beautiful plumage, highly prized by hunters. Mosquitoes carried on other ships felled many other island species. And so on. Curiously, Fuller writes, the usual-suspect agents of extinction-hunting or egg collecting for example--have had a smaller effect on vulnerable bird species than have changes in the environment wrought by humans and their "accompanying menagerie".
Fuller's book makes for a sobering obituary, and one of particular interest to environmentalists engaged in habitat preservation and restoration. --Gregory McNamee
Antiques Trade Gazette, July 2001
I can only urge all bird lovers to go out and buy this splendid book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I don't know why this book is so difficult to track down, but if you are interested in the subject matter (be it extinctions or birds) then this will be a fine addition to your collection.
It is a bit pricey, but you do get a great book for you money.
The book concentrates on the species of bird that have become extince in modern times... which for the purposes of the book, I believe means everything since and including the Dodo.
If you are a lover of wildlife, then you will find this somewhat morose reading from time to time, paticularly when you consider the plight of the Passenger Pigeon and the Carolina Parakeet... both species whose numbers were counted in BILLIONS.
It's not all doom and gloom though, so do yourself a favour and read the chapters in order, allowing yourself a hopeful conclusion.
Format:Hardcover
This excellent work is more of a monograph than a book.
It deals with 85 birds in 15 groups as classified as extinct since 1600, when reliable documented evidence became available,using the definition "there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died"however the authoradmits there may be residual doubts as unrecognised "extinctt"birds pop up from time to time.
There is a most erudite introduction on the causes of extinction covering human activity,agriculture, geography,the environment etc.This section is well worth reading as it could stand on its own.
Each bird has its own section giving its name(s),length,description and measurements coupled with an excellent and well researched text and first class illustrations mainly paintings but some photographs.
The sections on the dodo,the moa and the passenger pigeon are classics.
My only criticism is that the page numbers could have been more prominately placed.
A book to be highly recommended.
It deals with 85 birds in 15 groups as classified as extinct since 1600, when reliable documented evidence became available,using the definition "there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died"however the authoradmits there may be residual doubts as unrecognised "extinctt"birds pop up from time to time.
There is a most erudite introduction on the causes of extinction covering human activity,agriculture, geography,the environment etc.This section is well worth reading as it could stand on its own.
Each bird has its own section giving its name(s),length,description and measurements coupled with an excellent and well researched text and first class illustrations mainly paintings but some photographs.
The sections on the dodo,the moa and the passenger pigeon are classics.
My only criticism is that the page numbers could have been more prominately placed.
A book to be highly recommended.
Format:Hardcover
This superb book combines both detailed information with a lively and entertaining style of writing. It is beautifully presented with a mixture of drawings, chromolithographs and photographs. Each species receives at least half a page of writing and is made up of a profile of the species, its habits, the reason for it's supposed extinction (there is some doubt over whether or not some are actually extinct) and when and where it was last seen.
The book is split into the various bird families, with the parrot and rail families being most well represented. As well as giving info. on the birds, there is also a number of fascinating stories and accounts of the various ornithologists and naturalists who discovered or accounted the birds.
The author, Errol Fuller, also lists all the species of birds which are endangered, giving accounts of some of them.
The books fairly gernerous price, short delivery time and readable style make this book well worth purchasing and makes a superb Christmas present.
The book is split into the various bird families, with the parrot and rail families being most well represented. As well as giving info. on the birds, there is also a number of fascinating stories and accounts of the various ornithologists and naturalists who discovered or accounted the birds.
The author, Errol Fuller, also lists all the species of birds which are endangered, giving accounts of some of them.
The books fairly gernerous price, short delivery time and readable style make this book well worth purchasing and makes a superb Christmas present.
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