The bustards, hemipodes, and sandgrouse represent three taxonomically distinct and diverse families. Most of their members have become adapted to life in deserts, semi-deserts, or steppes of the Old World. This is the first monograph covering any of these groups, and is a companion volume to the author's The Pheasants of the World and The Quails, Partridges, and Francolins of the World. It covers all fifty-one extant species, and all but one of them are illustrated by paintings by Major Henry Jones, done from specimens in The Natural History Museum, London. These paintings are owned by The Zoological Society of London and are reproduced with their permission. The Lark-quail is illustrated by a new painting by Mark Marcuson. The text includes comparative chapters on the taxonomy and phylogeny of the three bird groups, their zoogeographic patterns, social behaviour, breeding biology, and status (in cases of rare or endangered species). The species accounts include identification criteria, summaries of available biological information, and range descriptions.
Keys for the identification of genera and species are also provided, and approximately four-hundred literature sources are cited. This book is intended for ornithologists, zoologists, ecologists, naturalists, conservationists, collectors of illustrated bird books.
- ISBN10 0198576986
- ISBN13 9780198576983
- Publish Date 1 September 1991
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 5 June 2003
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Oxford University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 285
- Language English