In my Africa: a guide to reference material (London, Hans Zell, 1993), works relating to the biological sciences were deliberately excluded. In order to fill a part of this gap, I am hoping to produce a series of lists of major reference sources relating to African flora and fauna. The first listing is concerned with sources relating to the ornithology of Africa.

In the ornithological context, ‘reference material’ has been deemed to comprise the following major categories:

taxonomic checklists which attempt to establish complete listings of scientific and popular names for all species known to have occurred within a particular region (zoogeographical, regional, national, a particular game park, etc.). These need to be updated regularly both as knowledge of bird distribution increases, and as taxonomists make new decisions regarding bird relationships, with consequent changes in scientific names. Local decisions in the latter area naturally reflect world decisions, and so some of the standard world lists are also cited. Standard lists of popular names in English, other European languages and African languages are also required.