The Hornbills: Bucerotiformes

First Edition, 1995; Oxford University Press, London. Imperial octavo, 25.5 x 20cm, xvi, 302 pp, plus 14 pages of coloured plates (field guide style) from paintings by Martin Woodcock, each with a descriptive page of text. Black cloth boards with gilt titles to spine. Pictorial dust jacket of hornbills on green background. Also illustrated with drawings, distribution maps and diagrams. Signed by Alan Kemp on title page.

Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated, The Hornbills is the most authoritative treatment of all 54 species of these fascinating birds available. Found throughout the Old World, from sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Subcontinent to southeast Asia and Indonesia (to Papua New Guinea), they are birds of the forest that survive largely on fruits and insects. Named after their large, distinctively shaped bills, they have long fascinated ornithologists with their social behavior and nesting habits. The first part of the book offers an overview of the family, describing all facets of hornbill life including taxonomy, distribution, biology, and behavior, and with a summary of the literature, a wealth of examples, and numerous illustrations. The second part features the species accounts, each of which contains a complete description of the bird in its natural state. Each account is culled from the best available sources, including the author's own research.

Born (1944) and raised in Zimbabwe, Dr. Alan Kemp and has always been interested in natural history, including practicing falconry. He received a PhD at Rhodes University, South Africa and first worked on raptors for and with Dr. Tom Cade for three years in the Kruger National Park. He later spent 32 years as ornithologist and curator of birds at the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, (now Ditsong Museum of Natural History) South Africa. He succeeded the author of South Africa’s first bird field guide, Oom Proz Prozesky, as curator, working from the original office of pioneering zoologist Dr. Austin Roberts.  He and his wife Meg co-authored Birds of Prey of Africa and its Islands, a mini handbook still in demand. Since retiring from the Museum, he has worked as a wildlife consultant. His main research interest is hornbills in Africa and Asia, but he has always included studies on raptors wherever possible, including recent raptors surveys in South Africa.

Martin Woodcock has been painting wildlife professionally for over forty years, specialising in birds, and has illustrated over twenty field guides and monographs, including the definitive handbook The Birds of Africa. His work is in many private collections, and he continues to be inspired by the wildlife and landscapes around his home in Norfolk, as well as further afield.