Volume 1 covers the orders Struthioniformes, Tinamiformes, Procellariiformes, Sphenisciformes, Gaviiformes, Podicipediformes, Pelecaniformes, Ciconiiformes, Phoenicopteriformes, Falconiformes, and Anseriformes.
From the introduction:
"Nearly fifty years have passed since the publication of the first edition of this volume. In these years many changes have taken place in the concepts of taxonomy, so that the work was already obsolete when it went out of stock some twenty years ago, pioneering as it had been when published in 1931. A thorough revision was evidently necessary, a task exceeding the competence of any single author. The editors therefore invited various specialists to accept authorship of the manuscript of the orders involved, and this invitation was accepted by nearly all those asked. [...] This new edition of Volume I follows essentially the style of recent volumes of the Check-List in accepting large genera and in making the species the principal unit. Similarly, references to the literature have been expanded, and geographical ranges given in more detail. Citations and references have been given in rather fuller form, in the interest of intelligibility. References to type locality have been standardized, except when exact quotation seemed called for. [...]"