2016
ISBN: 978-1927249291
Brian Gill studied birds at university and worked for 30 years as a curator at Auckland Museum. The book has 14 self-contained stories based on natural history specimens he worked with. History, personalities and biology are woven in to make engaging tales. One story covers shining cuckoos, their parasitic breeding and their remarkable annual migration to tropical islands in Melanesia. Another deals with three whole moa eggs, including the unburnt egg that survived a tragic house-fire in New Plymouth. The book casts light on the work of natural history curators and explains the value and relevance of museum collections.
