An Australian Bird Book by J. A. Leach, published in 1911, was the first field guide to Australia’s avifauna. Unlike today’s field guides, it was not tightly focussed on identification, instead devoting more than half its words to an expansive dissertation on the natural history of birds. This article scrutinises and contextualises Leach’s Bird Book to illuminate some of the interconnections between science, birdwatching, recreation and conservation in early twentieth-century Australia. It shows how Leach’s heavy weighting on natural history was integral to his promotion of birdwatching as an edifying recreation that would lead people not merely to be able to name the birds they saw but also, more importantly, to understand, cherish and protect them.

JA Leach 于 1911 年出版的澳大利亚鸟类手册是澳大利亚鸟类动物的第一本野外指南。与今天的实地指南不同，它并没有把重点放在识别上，而是将一半以上的文字花在了一篇关于鸟类自然历史的广泛论文上。本文对 Leach 的《鸟书》进行了详细审查和背景化，以阐明 20 世纪早期澳大利亚科学、观鸟、娱乐和保护之间的一些相互联系。它显示了 Leach 对自然历史的重视如何成为他推广观鸟作为一种启发性的娱乐活动的组成部分，这将引导人们不仅能够命名他们看到的鸟类，而且更重要的是，理解、珍惜和保护它们。