This book is for anyone with an interest in birds, words, or the history of Australian biology and birdwatching. It discusses common and scientific names of every Australian bird to tease out their meanings--which may be useful, useless or downright misleading!

The authors examine every species: its often many--and--varied common names, its full scientific name, with derivation, translation and a guide to pronunciation. Stories behind the name are included, as well as relevant aspects of biology, conservation and history. Original descriptions, translated by the authors, have been sourced for most species.

As well as being a book about names this is also a book about the history of ever-developing understandings of birds, about the people who contributed and, most of all, about the birds themselves.