Another excellent collector´s item

"Ornitologia de Angola" is a voluminous work on the birds of Angola, published in Portugal by Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica Tropical. The publication date given is 1983. The author's name is Antonio Augusto Da Rosa Pinto. This is the first volume, "Non Passeres" (i.e. non-passerines). It's possible that no sequel was ever published - I haven't seen one.

The introduction is bilingual (Portuguese and English), but the species presentations are in Portuguese. The plates are excellent. Each plate only shows one specimen, and could almost be considered works of art in their own right. Besides, many of the Angolan birds are exotic or just plain bizarre, at least to those of use more used to house sparrows or crows! What are we to make of Macrodipteryx vexillarius, for instance? Otherwise, I found it striking that a book on Angolan avifauna isn't published in Angola, but in the old colonial power of Portugal. Presumably, Angolans had other things on their mind that studying the Macrodipteryx...

Be that as it may, I give this book four stars. It's probably of limited use to non-Portuguese speakers, but could be an excellent collector's item, and would sure impress any jaded bird-watchers in your area.