This multiple issue completes 120 years of the Avicultural Magazine. To mark this milestone, the Avicultural Society is publishing an index for the whole of this period. The magazine itself is of course a fantastic resource, packed with information on the behaviour and husbandry of a wide range of birds, as well as documenting the history and development of aviculture over more than a century. The index is a hugely useful resource in its own right, providing as it does the key to the riches contained within the magazine.
The index has three parts, but the volume of material available in the magazine is such that only the first two – the species index, which is the largest, and a brief family index which acts as an aid to navigating the species index – are included here. The subject index will appear separately as part of volume 121.
It should now be easy to find articles on species of interest. If these are not contained in your own collection of magazines, they may be available from our stock of back issues; to find out simply contact the treasurer. Alternatively, the magazine from 1894-1922 can be read online at the Biodiversity Heritage Library and library copies are available at a number of institutions – The Zoological Society of London holds a full set at Regents Park and The Natural History Museum also holds a full set at Tring and 1894-1983 at South Kensington. There are links on our website to the visiting arrangements and to NHM’s digitised copy service. We have agreed to deposit a set with the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and will let you know when these are available. A number of other zoos, museums and libraries around the world subscribe or have subscribed, in some cases through agencies so we are not always aware of their locations or visiting arrangements. We would be happy to publish details of other sets available for reference – we would like to see the Avicultural Magazine used as widely as possible.
The index will also be made available on the website, and will be updated online annually. I hope having this this printed copy in your hands will open up or reopen routes into the fascinating treasure trove that is the Avicultural Magazine.
Nigel Hewston