Originally published in the early 1900's, this book is now rare and much sought after in its first edition. READ COUNTRY BOOKS have republished it using the original text with its numerous vintage black and white photos. Four hundred and fifteen pages contain twenty eight detailed articles by well known Cockers and Game Fowl breeders of that era, most notably C.A. Finsterbusch, G.W. Means and D.H. Pierce. Contents Include: - Wisconsins Red Shufflers. - Blue Boones. - Grey Tormentors. - The Miner Blues. - Clairbornes. - Sid Taylors. - Black Roundheads. - Rhett Morgan Fowl. - Walker Mugwumps. - Gregory Tassels. - Red Cubans. - French and Belgian Cocks. - The Asil. - Mahoney Gulls. - Volunteers. - Malay Fowl. - Fardowns. - Grimme Fowl. - Hammond Gordons. - John Stone Fowl. - Cocks and Cockers in South America. - Secret Ways of Nature. - Steel Fighters. - English Game Fowl. - Alabama Roundheads. - Methods of Conditioning Cocks. - Experience in Breeding. Nursing Cocks. Assembled in these chapters is much comprehensive information on Game Fowl Strains, History, Records, Breeding and Fighting Tips, and many Rare Vintage Photos. This is a fascinating read for all Game Fowl enthusiasts and historians, but also contains much information that is still useful and practical today. Many of the earliest sporting books, particularly those dating back to the 1800s, are now extremely scarce and very expensive. READ COUNTRY BOOKS are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Book of the Month, Countryside magazine '[this] fascinating new book... provides a detailed insight into the snow-white species' Waterways World A wildlife writer and photographer's celebration of the mute swan, Britain's most iconic breed, exploring the bird's significance across myth and history alongside vivid observations on its habits and habitats. The swan is both a lover and a fighter. A graceful angel and a clumsy oaf. Immortalized by artists over the ages yet misunderstood and threatened in the present day. The mute swan - with its orange beak and aura of stately silence - is the breed we know best in Britain. Dan Keel has been captivated by these birds since boyhood, studying their contrasting qualities over more than three decades. He's spent countless hours documenting their power, beauty and vulnerability as a writer of nature journalism, as a wildlife photographer looking for the perfect shot, and as a pilot sharing the skies. In this labour of love, Dan speaks up for the mute, answering the essential questions about its nature and its future. Along the way, weaving his first-hand observations into the narrative, he shows us how swans have been portrayed in myth, art and culture for millennia, and how they have been venerated and imitated as well as harmed by humans. Does anybody still eat swan? Can a swan really break your arm? Does the Queen own them all? With an eye for the humour as well as the tragedy of the swan's story, Dan lays out the facts, guides us to our lakes and riverbanks, and urges us to see these familiar creatures in a fresh light.

In an attempt to standardize elements of the station routine, the book describes the procedures used in passerine and wader ringing stations. It offers a comparative analysis of versatile evaluation techniques such as measurements, orientation experiments and monitoring. The authors meticulously analyze different methods used to track birds, including catching passerines with mist-nets in land and wetland habitat, as well as the use of the Heligoland trap. The monograph, as a successful bid to establish a bird station routine that is favourable to both birds and ringers, will benefit all professional and amateur ringers.

"An utter delight" - Jennifer Tetlow. In the Encounters in the Wild series, renowned nature writer Jim Crumley gets up close and personal with British wildlife - here, the skylark. With his inimitable passion and vision, Jim relives memorable encounters with some of our best-loved native species, offering intimate insights into their extraordinary lives.

The wood duck is our most beautiful of all waterfowl, and for fifty years F. Eugene Hester observed and recorded their exciting lives. He and his companions erected wood duck nest boxes and observed nesting activities. By banding the ducks and applying web tags to ducklings, they gained interesting and unexpected insight into the lives of these ducks. Excellent photography enhance the observations.

Birds are intelligent, sociable creatures that exhibit a wide array of behaviours - from mobbing and mimicking to mating and joint nesting. Why do they behave as they do? Bringing to light the remarkable actions of birds through examples from species around the world, How To Read a Bird presents engaging vignettes about the private lives of birds, all explained in an evolutionary context. Richly illustrated, this book explores the increasing focus on how individual birds differ in personality and how big data and citizen scientists are helping to add to what we know about them.

Originally published in 1972 this important falconry book is probably one of the best of its kind. The author was a respected falconer of many years experience and his sheer pleasure in the sport shines through his writing. Contents Include: The Mews - Weathering Enclosure, Bath, Blocks - Bells, Jesses, Clip Swivels, Lures, Hoods, Whistle - Hack Hut and Hack Ground - Eyasses, Treatment before Hack - Hack, its Advantages and Disadvantages - Eyasses compared with Passgers and Haggards - Food - Hooding and Manning - Taming - Flying to Lure and Use of the Lure - Hawking - Homing - The Moult - Health - Miscellany - The Gyrfalcon

Contents Include: Ash, Common - Ash, Mountain - Beech - Blackberry - Blackthorn - Bluebottle - Bramble - Broom - Buckwheat - Burdock - Campions - Canary Seed - Charlock - Chickweed - Chickweed, Mouse Ear - Cleavers - Coltsfoot - Cornflower - Corn Spurrey - Cress - Dandelion - Dewberry - Dock, Broad-Leaved - Dock, Curled - Docken - Elder - Figwort - Flax - Gold of Pleasure - Goose grass - Grass, Annual Meadow - Grass, Canary - Grass, Rye - Groundsel - Hardheads - Hawkbit, Autumnal - Hawksbeard, Smooth - Hawkweed, Mouse-Ear - Haws- Hawthorn - Heather - Hemp - Hips - Holly - Honeysuckle - Inga -Ivy - Knapweed, Black - Knapweed, Greater - Knotgrass - Lettuce - Ling - Linseed - Mawseed - Meadowsweet - Millet - Mistletoe - Mountain Ash - Mouse-Ear - Mustard - Niger - Nipplewort - Persicaria - Plantain, Greater - Plantain, Ribwort - Poppy, Corn - Privet - Queen of the Meadows - Radish - Ragwort - Rape - Rat's Tail - Redshank - Ribwort - Rose - Rowan - Rye Grass - Sesame - Shepherd's Purse - Sloe - Snowberry - Snow thistle - Spurrey, Corn - Sunflower - Teazle, Wild - Thistle, Scotch - Thistle, Spear - Watercress - Way bread - Wintercress

POULTRY BOOK - A GUIDE FOR SMALL OR BIG POULTRY KEEPERS, BEGINNERS AND FARMERS By Harry Roberts. A READ COUNTRY BOOKS CLASSIC REPRINT. Originally published in the early 1930s, this extremely scarce early work on poultry keeping is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. READ COUNTRY BOOKS have republished it, using the original text and photographs. Two hundred and thirty three pages deal with every aspect of poultry keeping from egg to table, and will prove invaluable to both the backyard beginner and the larger commercial enterprise. Twenty detailed chapters contain much expert advise on: The Beginner. - Breeds and Strains. - Houses and Appliances. - Foods and Feeding. - Hatching. - Rearing. - Backyard Poultry Keeping. - Intensive Poultry Keeping. - Winter Egg Production. - Day Old Chicks. - Ducks. - Turkeys. - Geese. - Guinea Fowls. - Diseases of Poultry. - Vermin. - Egg Preserving. - Killing and Shaping. Plucking, Drawing, Trussing. - Marketing. - Accounts. Etc. The book is well illustrated with photos of breeds and equipment. This is a fascinating read for any poultry enthusiast, and contains much information that is still useful and practical today. Many of the early farming books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. READ COUNTRY BOOKS are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Get the perfect coffee-table book for birders and nature lovers, pairing naturalist knowledge with beautiful watercolor paintings. This is the bird book for people who love birds! Naturalist, watercolorist, and debut author Jenny deFouw Geuder combines her vast knowledge of birds, wildflowers, and nature with her artistic expertise to create a book like no other. Drawn to Birds presents more than 120 beautiful watercolor paintings, along with Jenny's fascinating insights that add unique appeal to each page. Drawn to Birds begins with an introduction to bird anatomy, as well as details about nests, eggs, and migration. From there, more than 50 different bird species are showcased, with the watercolors divided into groups like backyard birds, raptors, and wetland birds. As an added bonus, there's a section dedicated to insects and wildflowers. You'll appreciate Jenny's tips on how to welcome birds to your yard and how to become a naturalist. Being a naturalist is about more than simply stopping to smell the flowers. It's about observation and making a record. Pause and notice the shapes, colors, and patterns around you. Jenny's goal is to inspire you to try your own hand at being a naturalist! She also includes step-by-step guides for drawing, painting, and inking your own pictures. Anyone can be an artist. Be brave, try it out, and keep noticing the marvels around you. Extra pages for journaling and sketching make this book a keepsake to cherish forever. If you enjoy birding, gardening, or the great outdoors, Drawn to Birds belongs in your book collection. Get one for yourself, and give one as a gift!

Contents Include: Housing and Feeding The Goldfinch The Bullfinch The Linnet The Greenfinch The Chaffinch The Bramble finch The Siskin The Redpoll The Twite The Hawfinch The Yellow Bunting The Corn Bunting The Cirl Bunting The Reed Bunting Breeding Softbills The Magpie, Jay and Jackdaw The Song Thrush The Blackbird The Starling The Smaller Softbills Hints on Hand-Rearing Ringing Young Birds Standards and Scales of PointsKeywords: Reed Bunting Cirl Bunting Yellow Bunting Song Thrush Magpie Jay Jackdaw Bullfinch Siskin Linnet Goldfinch Bramble Starling Blackbird Finch Scales Birds

In this compelling book, Rien Fertel tells the story of humanity's complicated and often brutal relationship with the brown pelican over the past century. This beloved bird with the mythically bottomless belly-to say nothing of its prodigious pouch-has been deemed a living fossil and the most dinosaur-like of creatures. The pelican adorns the Louisiana state flag, serves as a religious icon of sacrifice, and stars in the famous parting shot of Jurassic Park, but, most significantly, spotlights our tenuous connection with the environment in which it flies, feeds, and roosts-the coastal United States. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated the first national wildlife refuge at Pelican Island, Florida, in order to rescue the brown pelican, among other species, from the plume trade. Despite such protections, the ubiquity of synthetic "agents of death," most notably DDT, in the mid-twentieth century sent the brown pelican to the list of endangered species. By the mid-1960s, not one viable pelican nest remained in all of Louisiana. Authorities declared the state bird locally extinct. Conservation efforts-including an outlandish but well-planned birdnapping-saved the brown pelican, generating one of the great success stories in animal preservation. However, the brown pelican is once again under threat, particularly along Louisiana's coast, due to land loss and rising seas. For centuries, artists and writers have portrayed the pelican as a bird that pierces its breast to feed its young, symbolizing saintly piety. Today, the brown pelican gives itself in other ways, sacrificed both by and for the environment as a bellwether bird-an indicator species portending potential disasters that await. Brown Pelican combines history and first-person narrative to complicate, deconstruct, and reassemble our vision of the bird, the natural world, and ourselves.

The bald eagle is regal but fearless, a bird you're not inclined to argue with. For centuries, Americans have celebrated it as "majestic" and "noble" yet savaged the living bird behind their national symbol as a malicious predator of livestock and, falsely, a snatcher of babies. Taking us from before the United States' founding through inconceivable resurgences of this enduring all-American species, Jack E. Davis contrasts the age when native peoples lived beside it peacefully with that when others, whether through hunting bounties or DDT pesticides, twice pushed Haliaeetus leucocephalus to the brink of extinction. Filled with spectacular stories of Founding Fathers, rapacious hunters, heroic bird rescuers and the lives of bald eagles themselves-monogamous creatures, considered among the animal world's finest parents-The Bald Eagle is a much-awaited cultural and natural history that demonstrates how this bird's wondrous journey may provide inspiration today, as we grapple with environmental peril on a larger scale.

Contents Include: The Cages Considered Perches and other Fitments The Bird Room The Bath First Principles in Mating Building the Home The First Egg Commencement of Incubation Egg Food At Close of Incubation Feeding the Young Canaries Plucking the Young Young about to eave the Nest Preparing for the Second and Third Nests The Young when Weaned The Moult Moulting Cages Training for ShowKeywords: Egg Food Incubation Bird Room First Principles Moulting Eave Perches Canaries Commencement

The Roberts Bird Guide (2nd Edition) has gone to great trouble to concentrate on, and illustrate, difficult-to-identify species and family groups such as raptors, warblers, cisticolas and waders. Special attention has been given to make sure there is far greater coverage of male-female differences and there are also many more juvenile illustrations. Unlike all previously published southern African bird guides, this new edition will be scattered with informative photographs that are incorporated in the text pages and each plate illustration is augmented with an introduction. Apart from the approximately 240 plate spreads, the guide also has 12 photographic and illustrated double spreads that show head enlargements and other details. Plates are annotated far more definitively than other guides – highlighting key identification features, especially for difficult-to-identify species.

The John Voelcker Bird Book Fund (JVBBF) is proud to publish Roberts Geographic Variation of Southern African Birds, an illustrated version of aspects dealt with under the subject of Geographic Variation in the large handbook tome Roberts Birds of Southern Africa 7th Edition.

Worldwide, this is the first field guide to attempt to comprehensively illustrate the varied plumages that are exhibited by the region's birds. Although sometimes a camouflage and defence mechanism against predation, many other factors contribute to plumage variation and it is hoped that this guide will stimulate the reader's interest in this complex subject so that we can further our knowledge on various subspecies, a concept that was brought to the fore a little over 100 years ago.

The colour maps (courtesy of Guy Upfold), are a guide to the distribution of the subspecies; included too are the meaning of scientific names (Etymology).

This information, together with 105 annotated plates illustrated by the exceptional talent of Ingrid Weiersbye, makes this guide essential for both beginner and expert birders.

Explore the fascinating world of birds in the Kgalagadi Transfron- tier Park with “Kgalagadi Self-Drive Birds.” This book is a com- prehensive guide dedicated to the remarkable adaptation of bird species in one of the most extreme environments on Earth.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, with its expansive blue skies, red dunes, and sparse vegetation, provides a unique back- drop for birdwatching. This guide is meticulously crafted to offer bird enthusiasts and casual observers alike a deeper understand- ing of the diverse avian life that calls this arid savanna home. Inside, you’ll find detailed cutout images of each bird species, making identification easy and engaging. Alongside these imag- es, the book provides in-depth information on the unique adapta- tions that enable these birds to thrive in the harsh conditions of the Kgalagadi. From temperature fluctuations that can swing from -10°C at night to 45°C during the day, to the scarcity of water and the fierce dust storms, the resilience of these birds is truly awe-inspiring.

Each section of the book focuses on different bird species, highlighting their behaviors, habitats, and survival strategies. Learn how raptors soar majestically over the dunes, how songbirds find sustenance in the sparse vegetation, and how each species has evolved to make the most of the challenging environment. “Kgalagadi Self-Drive Birds” is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in understanding the intricate balance of life in the Kgalagadi. Whether you’re planning a self-drive safari or simply intrigued by bird adapta- tion, this book offers a wealth of knowledge and visual delight.

Embark on a journey through the Kgalagadi and discover the incredible stories of its avian inhabitants.