Bustards, Hemipodes, and Sandgrouse: Birds of Dry Places Hardcover - 1991

From the publisher

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
Paul Johnsgard's The Pheasants of the World and The Quails, Partridges and Francolins of the World. It covers all fifty-one extant species, many of which are rare or endangered, 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 has been 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 behavior, 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. Collectors of beautiful bird books will want to add this definitive and unique volume to their libraries; it is essential reading for ornithologists, zoologists, naturalists, and anyone concerned with the preservation of this
important class of avifauna.