The tragedy of extinct birds

Errol Fuller´s "Extinct Birds" is a kind of encyclopaedia about all or most birds known to have gone extinct for the past 400 years. It's lavishly illustrated, with reproductions of paintings or illustrations from old books on natural history. Some of the paintings turn out to be made by Errol Fuller himself!

The birds come in systematic order. All the well known cases of extinction are covered: dodo, passenger pigeon, Carolina parakeet, the great moa birds, the ivory billed woodpecker, the great auk... A few extinct races are also covered, including the Tasmanian emu. The most intriguing chapter deals with "mystery birds". The author reaches the conclusion that the white dodo of Réunion never actually existed, except in the imagination of European Baroque painters! There are also some illustrations of "lost" birds of paradise.

The book is an excellent addition to any coffee table. You might also consider it as a birthday or Christmas gift. At the same time, it feels very tragic. Once gone, an extinct bird will never come back. Even apart from the fact that it takes longer for Mother Nature to evolve them, than it takes for us to exterminate them...