A Manual of Philippine Birds

Before this book, the birds of the Philippines existed only in fragments, scattered across museum collections, brief journal articles, and the fading memories of field naturalists. Richard C. McGregor assembled the first comprehensive portrait of an archipelago that harbors one of Earth's most extraordinary concentrations of avian life. Published when the Philippines was still finding its scientific identity, this manual draws on specimens collected during the Menage Expedition, taxonomy from the British Museum, and unpublished field notes from naturalists Frank Bourns and Dean Worcester. The result is a meticulous catalog: descriptions of species, their habitats, and the intricate taxonomy that would guide generations of ornithologists. This is not light reading. It is a foundation stone, the book that made future birding in the Philippines possible. For historians of science, it offers a window into early 20th-century fieldwork and the colonial enterprise of cataloging nature. For birders, it is the ancestor of every modern field guide, a reminder that knowing begins with naming.