Latin for Birdwatchers by Roger Lederer & Carol Burr

Latin for Birdwatchers (Illustrated Struik Nature Reference Guide, 2014)

A Illustrated Guide to the Latin and Greek Behind More Than 3,000 Scientific Bird Names

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Latin for Birdwatchers: Over 3,000 Scientific Bird Names Explored and Explained
• Authors: Roger Lederer & Carol Burr
• Publisher: Struik Nature (an imprint of Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd), Cape Town
• Publication Date: 2014
• ISBN-13: 9781775840930
• Edition Details: First published in 2014 by Struik Nature, Cape Town.
• Binding: Publisher's cloth-covered illustrated boards, printed directly with bird illustrations, with illustrated blue endpapers. Issued without a dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Illustrated quarto-format reference, in colour throughout with bird illustrations.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The cloth-covered boards are printed directly with bird illustrations. The spine cloth shows light yellowish discolouration and marking. There is visible wear to the top edge and corners of the boards, with scuffing and some lifting or fraying at the top edge of the front board and at the corners. The back cover is clean.
• Interior: The text block is clean and tight, with the sampled pages free of foxing or markings. The blue endpapers carry a printed bird illustration, and the front endpaper is clean. Some slight lifting from edge wear is visible near the top of the board edge at the fore-edge.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued). The illustration is printed directly on the cloth boards.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Latin for Birdwatchers, published by Struik Nature in Cape Town in 2014, is a reference guide to the scientific and everyday Latin, and occasionally Greek, words used to name and describe bird species. Its alphabetical entries explore and explain more than 3,000 scientific bird names, with definitions and pronunciation guides.

Alongside the entries the book offers feature pages on bird behaviour, profiles of twelve great ornithologists and an in-depth look at twenty bird genera. It is illustrated throughout in colour with more than 200 historical ornithological illustrations.

The authors do not claim to be comprehensive, since there are some 20,000 bird names, but the book gives birders a way into the language behind the names in the field guide. It will appeal to birdwatchers, students of natural history and collectors of illustrated Africana nature titles.

Author Profile: Roger Lederer & Carol Burr

Roger Lederer is professor emeritus of biological sciences at California State University, Chico, where he taught ornithology and ecology. He is the author of Beaks, Bones, and Bird Songs and Birds: Ornithology and the Great Bird Artists, and co-author of Latin for Bird Lovers, the American and English edition of this title.

Carol Burr holds a PhD from Case Western Reserve University. She taught literature at California State University, Chico, for 37 years before retiring in 2008, and has written articles and edited books on women writers and sense of place.