At 12:31 PM 17/12/1999 +1000, Phil Gregory wrote:
G'day birders,
I've not yet had a chance to take a look at Doughty's Solomon's guide, I
am keen to get hold of it. Regarding the Bismarcks (New Britain and New
Ireland) and Admiralty Islands (Manus), Guy Dutson spent a year
researching the entire Melanesian area (Vanuatu and Solomons included)
with a view to producing a Melanesian Field Guide.
After receiving the Doughty guide today I hope another guide is in the
works. I would call the Doughty guide just adequate - the text is minimal
with very little on behaviour, the plates are variable (with Nicolas Day's
plates much better than Andrew Plant's), there is almost no introduction to
the area itself etc. I think the area deserves a much more thorough
treatment -the Doughty book has only 206 pages, of which 91 are plates.
The plates are a bit misleading in spots, particularly in matters of scale
- for example, the Fearful Owl is shown to be the size of a Barn Owl, when
(as the measurements given show) it is quite a bit larger. One real
problem I have is with the plate and account of the New Caledonian Owlet
Nightjar. The text makes no mention of its rediscovery, and the bird in
the plate is clearly an Australian Owlet Nightjar - the plate in Handbook
of the Birds of the World shows a very different-looking bird, with no
crown-band and with dark, barred underparts. As HBW notes this error has
been made before, and there is only one specimen of the NC bird, but still,
the mistake is unfortunate.
--
Ronald I. Orenstein Phone: (905) 820-7886
International Wildlife Coalition Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116
1825 Shady Creek Court
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 3W2
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