PREFACE 
The purpose of this volume is to assist and encourage those nature-lovers 
who desire to gain a more intimate knowledge of our birds. No attempt has 
been made to arrange the species according to a technical classification. They 
have been, for the most part, grouped in habitats. 
In planning the arrangement of the birds several factors in addition 
to habitat had to be considered — always having in view the simplest means 
of identification. Thus, it was deemed advisable to keep all the Parrots 
and Cockatoos together, regardless of habitat. Even a beginner recognizes 
a parrot, no matter what the species. Other well-known families are simi- 
larly treated. 
The coloured reproductions of the drawings eliminate the necessity for 
colour descriptions of plumage. With the exception of the Eyrean Grass- 
wren, all the drawings were made from specimens in museums or in private 
collections. In most cases, the figures of indigenous species are from birds 
taken in type localities. 
It has been the good fortune of the author to ramble over much of this 
interesting country of ours, and in so doing, to acquire useful field knowledge 
concerning some hundreds of species. This, together with information he 
has gathered from standard works and other sources, is given in a con- 
densed form. 
The author owes a special debt of gratitude to Mr Keith A. Hindwood, 
R.A.O.U., Hon. Ornithologist to the Australian Museum, Sydney, for his 
untiring help throughout the production of the work. He is also grateful 
for co-operation and assistance to Mr P. A. Gilbert, a past Chairman of the 
Ornithological Section of the Royal Zoological Society of New South 
Wales; to Mr Tom Iredale, F.R.Z.S., Chairman of the Ornithological 
Section of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales ; to Mr A. F. 
Basset Hull, F.R.Z.S., Editor of the Australian Zoologist , a past President 
of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, the Royal Zoological Society 
of New South Wales, and the Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union; 
to Mr Charles Bryant, R.A.O.U., Editor of the Emu; to Dr W. D. K. Mac- 
Gillivray, C.F.A.O.U., a past President of the Royal Australasian Orni- 
thologists’ Union ; to Miss Doris Chadwick, B.A., Editress, School Magazine ; 
and to Mr W. W. Froggatt, F.R.Z.S., President of the Naturalists’ Society 
of New South Wales, a past President of the Linnean Society of New South 
Wales, and the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. 
He also wishes to thank the President and Members of Council of the 
