Birds of Malaysia – Jean Delacour (1947) (1st ed) (signed)

S$67.00

Birds of Malaysia – Jean Delacour (1947) (1st ed) (signed)

S$67.00

Title: Birds of Malaysia

Author: Jean Delacour

Publisher: The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947. First edition.

Condition: Hardcover, with dust jacket wrapped in plastic. Signed by author on title page. Good. Dust jacket has some tears. Slight tanning to fore-edge, but interior in excellent condition. 382pp., app 8″ by 5″.

From jacket flap:

The large islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, with the Malay Peninsula, the Palawan group and the numerous small islands which surround them, form a vast natural biological subregion of very great interest to all of us today. They cover an area of roughly 600,000 square miles – more than twice the size of Texas. Because of the variety of the climates, of the different altitudes, and of its situation astride the equator, Malaysia possesses one of the richest exhibits of bird-life in the world, both in the number of species and in their specialization. The general wealth of the archipelago has always been famous, and it will be much visited again by scientists and tourists when quiet and peace are restored.

Here is the only general, popular book on Malaysian bird-life for the layman, as well as the field naturalist. This practical handbook is succinct, but complete and scientifically up-to-date.

Simple keys, short descriptions with numerous figures, geographical distribution and relationship, and a few hints on the habits are supplied. They will enable the reader to identify all the birds he may encounter and give him the most essential information on them. Here he will find such famous creatures as the Giant Argus, Bulwer’s Wattled Pheasant, the great hornbills, the gorgeous broadbills, the many beautiful pittas, sunbirds, and countless others among the 780 avian species which inhabit Malaysia.

The book is illustrated with 79 beautiful line drawings.