Laughing kookaburra there. He probably obtained a preserved specimen from one of the naturalists who accompanied Captain James Cook to the east coast of Australia. Edme-Louis Daubenton and François-Nicolas Martinet included a coloured plate of the laughing kookaburra based on Sonnerat's specimen in their "Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle". The plate has the legend in French ""Martin-pecheur, de la Nouvelle Guinée"" (Kingfisher from New Guinea). In 1783, the French naturalist Johann Hermann provided a formal description of the species based the coloured plate by Daubenton and Martinet. He gave it the scientific name "Alcedo novæ Guineæ". The current genus "Dacelo" was introduced in
The Australian Bird Guide Pearson from the "British Bird Guides" also reviewed the book and while he did mention the size of the book, overall he was also very enthusiastic about the guide. While the Chris Watson review was critical of the written bird sounds this review thought they had been done very well. Pearson was also critical that the birds full length (size range) was not provided rather it provides wing size, bill length and weight. Donna Lynn Schulman reviewed this Guide for "10,000 Birds" and at the same time compared this guide to the most popular existing Australian bird guides. The author