Passions in Ornithology: A Century of Australian Egg Collectors
Ian J. Mason & Gilbert H. Pfitzner
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ian and Gilbert have strived to create the most comprehensive collection of ornithology in Australia over the past 100 years, offering insights into not only the egg collections, but lives of the people behind them.
Collectors from all over Australia comprise an impressive genealogical detailing of generations, outlining the evolution of the pastime into its current form. The extent of the biographies are a sight to behold.
OUR REVIEWS
"This book is a monument to the history of Australia and should be read without biased" [sic] (John Young, 2020)
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"An outstanding reference for anyone interested in Australian ornithology" (Andrew Isles, 2020)
"Fills a gap in the story of ornithology in Australia" (Geoffrey Dabb, 2020)
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Full reviews
SUPPLEMENTARY EDITION
Supplementary Edition to Passions in Ornithology was published in June 2021. In this Supplementary Edition of our book, we consider we have now exhausted every avenue to update and correct the biographies of 60 of the original accounts and an additional 12 not previously documented. Once again, we thank the families who have contributed to these accounts.
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Additional feedback suggested that the inclusion of a list of egg collections held by various Australian museums could have been beneficial. Our previous publication and the Supplementary Edition are about disseminating information on the biographies of Australian oologists and their contributions to further enhance the knowledge of Australian ornithology. Several publications have already discussed the history of the Australian museums and their collections, and information on egg clutches in various Australian museums is already online via their web sites, OZCAM and Vertnet. However, we have included a summary of the Principal Australian Oologists in the back of the book as follows: years in which they predominantly collected; collector’s status; number of egg clutches attributed to each collector; and where their egg collections/clutches are currently housed. We also include a summarised overview of the financiers and natural history collectors.
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