BIRDS OF THE TRANSVAAL by TARBOTON, W. R & KEMP, M. I & KEMP, A. C

The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive inventory of the birds of the Transvaal something that has not been done since 1887 when J H Gurney published the last of a six-part series in the Ibis on the birds collected in the then Trans-Vaal Republic. Birds of the Transvaal grew out of an initially modest project started in 1974 of cataloging all the birds to be found in the various museum collections that had been collected in the Transvaal.

It was then expanded to incorporate information on Transvaal birds that was filed in the ringing schedules at the South African Bird Ringing Unit in the nest record card collection of the Southern African Ornithological Society and in the literature. It then grew in 1976 into a cooperative bird atlassing project and appeals were made to bird clubs nature conservancies forestry stations and the general public to contribute information on bird distribution in the Transvaal.