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 similarly 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 condensed form. 
The author owes a special debt of gratitude to Mr Keith A. Hind- 
wood, 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. MacGillivray, C.F.A.O.U., 
a past President of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' 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. 
