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Tuatara: Volume 21, Issues 1 and 2 (New Zealand Albatrosses and Petrels: an Identification Guide)

Foreword

Foreword

During theCenturies in which men for various reasons have crossed the sea, first by sail and later in steam vessels, the birds of the ocean were very rarely identified with accuracy, except when shot and picked up. It was late in the day when W. B. Alexander in 1928 pioneered a field guide to oceanic birds. Its coverage was world-wide, and its great achievement was that it stimulated a new interest in bird-watching at sea. In its several editions and more than one language it is still to be found in most sea-going libraries or in the possession of voyagers. The impetus of Alexander is still with us fifty years later, but the emphasis now is to present the data in more detail and improved accuracy for selected regions. Thus the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, as well as Antarctic seas have all in the last few years been covered by the publication, mainly in the U.S.A., of bird distribution data in graphic form, with field identification material provided in some cases.

The improved degree of accuracy in illustrating such guides has resulted in part from increased use of high-speed photography and from long hours of systematic watching from vessels engaged in page 4 marine research. The present work has had the advantage of both as a background, and the data presented in both text and figures has been critically checked. The authors would be the first to agree that even the best of figures is not an infallible guide to identification. By reason of light or other conditions a bird may look very different from the position figured. There will still be need for the observer to make notes or even quick sketches and then to check them by further observation. The purpose of the guide is either to confirm or cast critical doubt on the result the observer has reached as a hypothetical identification.

Fig. 1: Locality map. The area covered by this guide lies between longitude 140° E. and 160° W., and reaches from 20° southern latitude to the coasts of the Antarctic Continent.

Fig. 1: Locality map. The area covered by this guide lies between longitude 140° E. and 160° W., and reaches from 20° southern latitude to the coasts of the Antarctic Continent.