About
How this site labels its evidence
Most of what you read here comes straight off the original discs. Some of it does not. This page explains how to tell the difference.
The default is the disc
Text set like this — a serif face, with a green rule down its left edge — is
recovered from the original CD-ROM and is shown as it was decoded.
It carries no badge, because it is the ordinary case. Its spelling, punctuation and
typographical errors are the work's own and have not been corrected, including
<HH> markers where a byte could not be decoded and the work's own
formatting codes where they survive.
Everything else is labelled. Interface text, navigation and explanation — like this sentence — are set in a sans-serif face without a rule, which is how this site keeps its own voice separate from the work's.
The eight labels
-
From the original CD — shown without a badge
This information comes directly from the original CD-ROM. It is shown as faithfully as possible, including errors, gaps, or unusual wording in the original.
-
Organized by this website Organized by this website
The website created this grouping, page, or link by applying the same documented rule throughout the collection. It organizes the recovered material but does not add a new historical claim.
-
Added after review Added after review
This information records a later decision or observation, such as a correction, family clarification, or identification made by listening again. It is kept separate from the original CD information.
-
Possible — unresolved Possible — unresolved
This is a possible interpretation or connection, but it has not been confirmed.
-
Sources disagree Sources disagree
Two or more records give different information. The website shows the disagreement instead of silently choosing one version.
-
Not yet understood Not yet understood
The original information was recovered, but part of it cannot yet be interpreted or used safely. It is preserved exactly as found.
-
Missing or incomplete Missing or incomplete
This part of the original material could not be recovered completely. The website says so rather than silently leaving it out.
-
Added for this website Added for this website
This explanation, index, label, or navigation aid was created for the new website. It was not part of the original CD.
A single page can mix several of these across its sections. Each part is labelled on its own; one label is never stretched across a whole page.
Three discs, three historical states
The work was published on three discs: Disc 2 · 2001 first, Disc 3 · 2006 second, and Disc 1 · 2011 last. Each is a complete historical state in its own right, and none is treated here as the correct one.
The 2011 disc is in particular not preferred just for being last. Its mastering cut 57 account sections short at exactly 512 bytes, so the earlier discs preserve text the final one lost — and its introduction drops five corrections the 2006 disc carried. Where the discs differ, this site shows each disc's own version under its own label rather than merging them: different English names for the same bird, edited or truncated account text, an account present on one disc and absent on another, and recordings a disc lists whose sound file shipped on a different one.
Birds known only from a disc's own bird list, with no recovered account, have their own pages, reachable from the same indexes and marked Release-level evidence.
Uncertainty is published, not hidden
Some material is settled. Some is a reading that has not been confirmed. Some has two sources that disagree. Some cannot currently be placed at all. All four are published, each labelled, because leaving the unsettled material out would misrepresent how much of this record is actually settled. None of it is presented as established fact.
Where a category could not be recovered, or was only partly recovered, the site says so rather than quietly omitting it. The register of unresolved evidence collects the records that cannot safely be attached to any one page.
This site asks nothing of you
There is no account, no form, no tracking of what you read, and no server behind these pages doing anything with your visit. Every page is a static file. Nothing you do here is saved or sent anywhere.