Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide by Pamela C. Rasmussen and John C. Anderton is a two-volume ornithological handbook, covering the birds of South Asia, published in 2005 (second edition in 2012) by the Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. The geographical scope of the book covers India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, the Chagos Archipelago and Afghanistan (the latter country had been excluded from previous works covering this region). In total, 1508 species are covered (this figure includes 85 hypothetical and 67 'possible' species, which are given only shorter accounts). Two notable aspects of Birds of South Asia are its distribution evidence-base — the book's authors based their distributional information almost completely on museum specimens — and its taxonomic approach, involving a large number of species-level splits.
The books
Volume 1 is a field guide. A nine-page introduction is followed by 180 colour plates, each with an accompanying text page giving brief identification notes, and, for most species, range maps. In addition to the 69 plates by Anderton, eleven other artists contributed, including Ian Lewington and Bill Zetterström. Volume 2: Attributes and Status contains more detailed supporting texts for every species. Twelve other authors are listed as having contributed to this volume, including Per Alström, Nigel Collar and Craig Robson. This volume opens with an appreciation, written by Bruce Beehler, of S. Dillon Ripley, who initiated the work which led to the book, and after whom it is named. This is followed by a 24-page introduction. The bulk of the book, from pages 41 to 601, consists of individual species accounts; each of these includes sections on identification, occurrence, habits and voice (this latter section accompanied by sonograms for many species). There are ten appendices, including a hypothetical list, a list of rejected species, a summary of taxonomic changes, a glossary, a gazetteer, and a list of institutions holding major collections of South Asian bird specimens.
The book's covers are illustrated by montages of South Asian birds, painted by Anderton. Volume 1 features crimson-backed flameback, stork-billed kingfisher, Indian eagle-owl, black-and-orange flycatcher and Himalayan quail on its front cover. Volume 2 features six laughingthrush species: variegated, Bhutan, grey-sided, blue-winged, black-chinned and Assam. The back covers of both volumes feature a painting of Serendib and Nicobar scops owls.
Taxonomic changes In preparing the book, the authors undertook a major revision of the taxonomic status of bird forms found in the region; many allopatric forms previously regarded as conspecific are treated by Rasmussen and Anderton as full species. Many of these had previously been proposed elsewhere, but the book introduced a number of innovations of its own.Collar & Pilgrim (2008) includes an analysis of Rasmussen & Anderton's proposed changes, indicating which had previously been proposed by other authors, and which are novel. The majority of these changes, and the overwhelming majority of the novel ones, are among the passerines. The following is a list of the groups of taxa which are considered conspecific in the sixth edition of the Clements Checklist (Clements 2007),At the time of Birds of South Asia's publication, Clements was the most widely used world bird checklist; the sixth edition was published shortly after Birds of South Asia, and hence is used here as the best work to view the effect of Rasmussen & Anderton's proposals; when compared with earlier regional lists, such as the Oriental Bird Club checklist (Inskipp et. al. 1996), the effects are greater still.Rasmussen & Anderton do not split two pairs of taxa which are treated as separate species in Clements' sixth edition, MacQueen's and houbara bustards (vol 2, pp. 148-9), and carrion and hooded crows (vol 2, p. 599). but split into two or more species in Rasmussen and Anderton's work (volume 2 page references in brackets).
Non-passerines
(p. 53) Oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster) is treated as a monotypic Asian species, separate from African (A. rufa) and Australasian (A. novaehollandiae) darters.This treatment had been followed in the first edition of Peters' checklist (Peters 1931) but not by most other 20th-century authors. (p. 58) Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is split into two species: western cattle egret (B. ibis sensu stricto) and eastern cattle egret (B. coromandus)McAllan & Bruce (1988) had previously adopted this treatment, but the two taxa had been regarded as conspecific by almost all other recent authors. (p. 60) Black-backed bittern (Ixobrychus dubius) is split from little bittern (I. minutus)The fifth edition of Clements' checklist (Clements 2000) treated these two taxa as distinct species, but they were lumped in the sixth edition (pp. 68–9) Whistling (Cygnus columbianus) and Bewick's (C. bewickii) swans are regarded as separate speciesA treatment previously proposed in the Conspectus of the Ornithological Fauna of the USSR (Stepanyan 1990), but not adopted widely in Europe or North America. (pp. 74–5) Spot-billed duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) is split into two species, Indian spot-billed duck (A. poecilorhyncha sensu stricto) and Chinese spot-billed duck (A. zonorhyncha)Sympatric occurrence of the two putative species in the breeding season without interbreeding was first documented by Carey & Melville 1996. (pp. 101–2) Common buzzard (Buteo buteo) is split into two or three species:Rasmussen and Anderton made a firm decision to split Himalayan buzzard; they describe Japanese buzzard as "probably specifically distinct". common buzzard (B. buteo sensu stricto), Himalayan buzzard (B. burmanicus) and Japanese buzzard (B. (buteo) japonicus) (pp. 108–9) Changeable (Spizaetus limnaeetus) and crested (S. cirrhatus) hawk-eagles are treated as separate speciesA treatment previously proposed by Fleming et. al. 1984 (pp. 141–2) Eastern water rail (Rallus indicus) is split from (European) water rail (R. aquaticus) (pp. 154–5) Kentish (Charadrius alexandrinus) and snowy (C. nivosus) plovers are treated as separate species (pp. 181–2) Indian stone-curlew (Burhinus indicus) is split from Eurasian stone-curlew (B. oedicnemus) (pp. 211–2) Emerald dove (Chalcophaps indica) is split into two species: emerald dove (Chalcophaps indica sensu stricto) and an Australasian species C. longirostris (pp. 212–4) Pompadour green pigeon (Treron pompadora) is split into four to six species:Rasmussen & Anderton treat three South Asian taxa (affinis, pompadora & chloropterus) as monotypic species, separate from the remainder of the "pompadour green pigeon" complex (the name phayrei having priority for this group); this treatment is in line with Hussain (1958). They also state that two extralimital taxa (axillaris & aromaticus) are probably also better treated as separate species. Ceylon green-pigeon T. pompadora sensu stricto, grey-fronted green pigeon T. affinis, ashy-headed green pigeon T. phayrei, Andaman green pigeon T. chloropterus from South Asia, and possible fifth and sixth species, T. (phayrei) axillaris and T. (phayrei) aromaticus from the Philippines and Buru in the Moluccas respectively. (p. 217) Nicobar imperial pigeon (Ducula nicobarica) is split from green imperial pigeon (D. aenea) (p. 233) Andaman barn-owl (Tyto deroepstorffi) is split from barn owl (T. alba) König et. al. (1999) had earlier proposed this split. (p. 235) Ceylon bay owl (Phodilus assimilis) is split from Oriental bay owl (Ph. badius) (p. 244) Himalayan wood owl (Strix nivicola) is split from tawny owl (S. aluco) (p. 248) Hume's hawk-owl (Ninox obscura) is split from brown hawk-owl (N. scutulata) (p. 278) Crimson-fronted barbet (Megalaima rubricapillus) is split into two species, Malabar barbet (M. malabarica) and Ceylon small barbet (M. rubricapillus sensu stricto)A treatment previously proposed in Wijesinghe (1994) (p. 290) Crimson-backed flameback (Chrysocolaptes stricklandi) is split from greater flameback (C. lucidus)
Passerines
(p. 310) Grey-throated sand-martin (Riparia chinensis) is split from brown-throated sand-martin (R. paludicola) (p. 311) Pale crag martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta) is split from rock martin (P. fuligula) (p. 312) Hill swallow (Hirundo domicola) is split from Pacific swallow (H. tahitica) (p. 313) Ceylon swallow (Hirundo hyperythra) is split from red-rumped swallow (H. daurica) (p. 323) Andaman cuckooshrike (Coracina dobsoni) is split from bar-bellied cuckooshrike (C. striata) (p. 326) Jerdon's minivet Pericrocotus albifrons is split from white-bellied minivet (P. erythropygius) (pp. 327–8) Orange minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus) and scarlet minivet (P. speciosus) are regarded as separate species (p. 330) Malabar woodshrike (Tephrodornis sylvicola) is split from large woodshrike (T. gularis) (pp. 331–2) Ceylon woodshrike (Tephrodornis affinis) is split from common woodshrike (T. pondicerianus) (p. 336) Andaman bulbul (Pycnonotus fuscoflavescens) is split from black-headed bulbul (P. atriceps) (pp. 336–7) Black-crested bulbul (Pycnonotus melanicterus) is split into five species:The same conclusions were contemporaneously reached in the Handbook of the Birds of the World (Fishpool and Tobias 2005). black-crested bulbul sensu stricto (P. flaviventris), black-capped bulbul (P. melanicterus sensu stricto), flame-throated bulbul (P. gularis), ruby-throated bulbul (P. dispar) and Bornean bulbul (P. montis) (p. 344) Square-tailed black bulbul (Hypsipetes ganeesa) is split from black bulbul (H. madagascariensis) (p. 348) Jerdon's leafbird (Chloropsis jerdoni) is split from blue-winged leafbird (C. cochinchinensis)A treatment previously proposed in Wells et. al. (2003)
(p. 349) Isabelline shrike (Lanius isabellinus) is split into two species, Daurian shrike (L. isabellinus sensu stricto) and Turkestan shrike (L. phoenicuroides)An arrangement previously proposed by Kryukov (1995). Rasmussen & Anderton use the names isabelline and rufous shrikes for Daurian and Turkestan shrikes, respectively. (pp. 358–9) White's thrush (Zoothera aurea), Nilgiri thrush (Z. neilgherriensis) and Ceylon scaly thrush (Z. imbricata) are split from scaly thrush (Z. dauma) (pp. 363–4) Common blackbird (Turdus merula) is split into three or four species:Rasmussen and Anderton made firm decisions to split Tibetan blackbird, and the simillimus group of southern races as Indian blackbird; in the case of mandarinus, they stated that this taxon probably deserved species status. In addition, they suggested that within the simillimus group, the Sri Lankan race kinnisii is also probably better treated as a separate species. The simillimus group had previously been treated as a full species in Henry (1971). However this treatment had not gained widespread acceptance: both The Birds of the Western Palearctic (Cramp 1988) and the Oriental Bird Club checklist (Inskipp et. al. 1996) had retained these forms within common blackbird. Clement & Hathway (2000) had suggested that mandarinus and maximus probably deserved to be treated together as a separate species; again the OBC checklist had treated these as conspecific with common blackbird. common blackbird (T. merula) sensu stricto, Tibetan blackbird (T. maximus), Indian blackbird (T. simillimus) and Chinese blackbird (T. (merula) mandarinus) (pp. 365–6) Red-throated thrush (Turdus ruficollis) and black-throated thrush (T. atrogularis) are treated as separate speciesThe same conclusions were contemporaneously reached in the Handbook of the Birds of the World (Collar, 2005) (p. 372) Nicobar jungle-flycatcher (Rhinomyias nicobaricus) is split from brown-chested jungle-flycatcher (R. brunneatus) (p. 385) Large blue flycatcher (Cyornis magnirostris) is split from hill blue flycatcher (C. banyumas)