The bowerbirds are confined to Australia and New Guinea and, due to the difficulty in accessing certain areas of their distribution, the study of their habits has been challenging.
This book aims to condense the published knowledge acquired by ornithologists that have studied the bowerbirds since their discovery, and deliver it in a format suitable for natural history enthusiasts at any level.
While the emphasis of the book is on Australia's members of the family, with detailed accounts on each of the 10 species, the New Guinea representatives are discussed in general chapters and are included in as supplemental section that covers key areas such as breeding, identification and distribution.
The text is scientifically complete, but is written in an easy-to-read format so that every reader gains a clear understanding of the key information.
Acknowledgements; Introduction; Classification and Morphology; Habitat, Distribution and Conservation; Bower Evolution and Sexual Behaviour; Species Accounts; Black-eared Catbird; Green Catbird; Tooth-billed Bowerbird; Golden Bowerbird; Regent Bowerbird; Satin Bowerbird; Fawn-breasted Bowerbird; Spotted Bowerbird; Western Bowerbird; Great Bowerbird; New Guinea Species Supplement; White-eared Catbird; Macgregor's Bowerbird; Streaked Bowerbird; Vogelkop Bowerbird; Yellow-fronted Bowerbird; Archbold's Bowerbird; Masked Bowerbird; Flame Bowerbird; Adelbert Bowerbird; Lauterbach's Bowerbird; Index; Bibliography.