In The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior we chose not to follow the common practice in the scientific literature of inserting citations into the text.  We made this decision because we felt that many people would find the book less readable if citations were included, and because the inclusion of citations and a comprehensive reference list would have taken up many extra pages and reduced the amount of biological information that the chapters could cover.  As practicing ornithologists, however, we recognize that many readers will want to follow up on ideas, delve further into the literature, or simply check out the original sources.  Consequently, we asked each of the authors to provide us with a list of key references.  We suggested that they include any major works on the family, plus specific papers that deal with topics that receive particular attention in the chapters. In some cases, we have augmented these lists with additional references that we felt covered topics that readers would find especially interesting.   No doubt some will find these lists incomplete, but we also wanted to avoid lists that were so long as to be unwieldy to use. If you are searching for information on a particular species and cannot find appropriate citations here, we suggest that you check the Birds of North America series, edited by Alan Poole and Frank Gill (Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, 1992-present; accounts for all North American breeding species are projected to be available by the end of 2002).  These life-history reviews provide the most comprehensive information available for North America birds.  For summary information on individual species we suggest The Birders Handbook by Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1988) or Lives of North American Birds by Kenn Kaufmann (Houghton-Mifflin, New York, 1996).  For extensive reviews of the scientific literature on each bird family and summary information on species found outside the United States and Canada, the best general reference is the fantastic Handbook of the Birds of the World, edited by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott, and Jordi Sargatal (Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, 1992-present; currently 6 of a projected 18 volumes have been completed – collectively covering most nonpasserine bird families).  These general references, and others mentioned in the Introduction to the book, generally are not included in the reference lists that follow. 

If you have questions or comments please write to Chris Elphick. Thanks.