A Monograph of the Lories, or Brush-Tongued Parrots, composing the family Loriidae.

First Edition, First Issue

London, R.H. Porter, 1896. Large-4to. pp. liii, 193, with 4 coloured maps, 61 hand coloured lithograph plates and 19 figures in the text, fine later half Morocco gilt.

“A thorough treatise on the group in question, with excellent hand coloured plates”. The introduction (pp. xix-xxxix) contains careful observations on the anatomy of the Loriidae, about which D.N.B. writes: “In mastery of anatomical detail he had few rivals, and perhaps no superior, among his contemporaries”. The lively and attractive plates are all after J.G. Keulemans, probably the most famous bird illustrator at the end of the 19th century.

“The family is remarkable for its brilliancy and gay colouration; but it is not only the appearance of these birds which make them attractive. Some of them, as those of the genus ‘Chalcopsittacus’, will spontaneously approach human dwellings” (From the Introduction). They range from what is genarally known as ‘the Australian region’ and over a very large part of Polynesia.
An excellent copy of one of the most attractive works on parrots.

Fine Bird Books 94; Nissen IVB, 640; Zimmer 439