CURASSOWS AND RELATED BIRDS

摘要

Ever since I was aware of the existence of cracids, and saw my first Plain Chachalacas {Ortalis vetula) in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas in 1959, I have been enamored with them. I have gone on to specialize in the study of neotropical birds, mainly in Peru, and have had many delightful experiences with these wonderful birds. The highlight of all of my avian experiences was being with my good friend Gustavo del Solar R., then of Chi-clayo in northern Peru, in September 1977 with the two of us making the first sightings of the White-winged Guan {Penelope albipen-nis) in exactly 100 years. I was delighted with the publication of the first edition of this book, which brought together what was then known of cracids and to be able to contribute some information to that volume. It was, however, the extraordinary paintings of A1 Gilbert that made me spend many hours just poring over the book time after time. Gilbert made these birds come alive on the pages of the book and, especially, gave life like never before to the downy young, most of which had never been depicted.