The African Fish Eagle by Leslie Brown

The African Fish Eagle (Leslie Brown's Classic Fish Eagle Study, 1980)

A Field-Based Natural History of the African Fish Eagle by One of Africa's Foremost Raptor Ornithologists

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The African Fish Eagle
• Author: Leslie Brown
• Publisher: Purnell, Cape Town ; Johannesburg ; London
• Publication Date: 1980
• ISBN-10: 0868430315
• Binding: Hardcover in a printed pictorial dust jacket illustrated in colour with a fish eagle holding a fish; teal edge visible to the boards at the foot of the back panel.
• Physical Format: Large portrait-format hardcover, approximately quarto.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: The boards are concealed beneath the dust jacket, with a teal edge showing at the foot of the back panel. The corners are not clearly visible.
• Interior: The title page and copyright page are clean, with some toning to the paper.
• The Dust Jacket: Present, with honest signs of age and handling. The edges are rubbed and chipped, with small losses at the top edge and a light-coloured mark at the lower front. The spine is stained and discoloured with water-type marks. The back panel is creased and stained along the right edge, with a patch of surface damage near the ISBN. Offered as a Good jacket and to be protected in a Mylar sleeve.

Synopsis & Historical Value

The African Fish Eagle, published by Purnell in 1980, is a natural history study of one of Africa's most recognisable birds of prey. It covers the eagle's behaviour, its fishing, territory, courtship and breeding, and its survival, with chapters that include a portrait of the species, watching fish eagles, the eagle's day and the eagle as a fisherman.

The text draws on more than two decades of fieldwork. Leslie Brown watched fish eagles across a wide part of the continent, from Nigeria to Ethiopia, most often in Kenya and also in Botswana, and condensed the results of that accumulated research into this volume.

Brown's 1980 work has continued to be cited as a reference in later species accounts, including for the breeding age of the species. It will interest collectors of Africana natural history, ornithology and raptor literature.

Author Profile: Leslie Brown

Leslie Hilton Brown (1917–1980) was born in Coonoor, India, and became an agriculturalist and ornithologist in Kenya. He was awarded the OBE in 1964 for services to agriculture and received the British Ornithologists' Union Medal in 1970. He died in August 1980, the year this book appeared.

His other works include Africa: A Natural History, African Birds of Prey, Eagles, Birds of Prey: Their Biology and Ecology, and, as co-author, Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of the World and The Birds of Africa. A Raptor Research Foundation grant is named in his memory.

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