Author(s): David Callahan

Overstocks

This book looks at 100 items that have profoundly shaped how people watched, studied and engaged with the avian world. Each item contains around 500 words on a double-page spread and include an illustration of the object in question. The book includes the objects listed below as well as many more.The range of items is international and cross-cultural. Subjects include: An Egyptian 'field guide' [early tomb decorations of birds, identifiable as species] Ornithologiae libri tres: the first British bird guide [a 1676 publication that attempted to itemise all British birds known at the time] The Dodo specimen held at the Horniman museum Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus [the first-ever system of scientific names in 1758, and still the international standard today] The shotgun The book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne by Gilbert White [1789] HMS Beagle [the ship on which Darwin made his ground-breaking discoveries] Aluminium bird rings [used to record movement and longevity of individuals and species] along with many more modern innovations including walkie talkies, pagers, radio tags and apps.