A Coloured Key to the Wildfowl of the World

Author: Peter Scott

Number of pages: 91

Year published: 1957

Edition: 1st

Published by: The Wildfowl Trust

Softcover

ISBN:

For more information: Wildlife and Wetland Trust

The Wildebeest's Review of A Coloured Key to the Wildfowl of the World

This interesting book has a goal of helping people identify any species of duck, goose or swan in the world. That is a good idea but, for me, as a keen birder I am not sure when I would use it.

The book jumps straight in with a key to identifying this familiar group of birds. It is a useful key and does seem to work. I tried it out on a random photo of a duck and was able to identify it.

There are a few notes on how the names and classification work and then the main section of the book starts. There are coloured plates featuring every species. These plates are useful as they show male and female plumages where it differs as well as some other varieties or forms.

As mentioned above I would not take it on a birding trip but I think it would be fun to sit on a bench in a park or zoo and try to identify all the “exotic” ducks in a pond.

Some of the subjects in this publication

White-faced Duck - Page: 34
Fulvous Duck - Page: 34
South African Shelduck - Page: 44
Egyptian Goose - Page: 44
Red-billed Teal - Page: 50
Cape Teal - Page: 50
Hottentot Teal - Page: 50
Northern Pintail - Page: 50
Yellow-billed Duck - Page: 54
Mallard - Page: 54
African Black Duck - Page: 54
Cape Shoveler - Page: 56
Northern Shoveler - Page: 56
Garganey - Page: 56
Southern Pochard - Page: 64
African Pygmy-Goose - Page: 68
Comb Duck - Page: 70
Spur-winged Goose - Page: 70
Maccoa Duck - Page: 78
White-backed Duck - Page: 78

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