Baker's early publications were focussed on the North Cachar Hill district where he worked. He also collected eggs and published a catalogue of them. He also published some notes on species whose nesting had not been described by
Allan Octavian Hume and sent these to the
Ibis journal. He also described a new species,
Elachura haplonota, which was collected by a Naga hunter for him, but this species had already been described by Godwin-Austen and Walden under the genus
Pnoepyga chocolatina (it is now called
Spelaeornis chocolatinus). His series on the bulbuls of the region included paintings made by him of the birds set in backgrounds having ornate plants from the region.
The Birds of North Cachar • • • • • • • • • • • • ; Bulbuls of North Cachar • • • • • • • In some of his early writings he pointed out errors in the identification keys (for instance for the minivets) given by E.W. Oates in the
Fauna of British India. This was followed by a more careful re-examination of specimens and he established himself as a careful taxonomist. This period of publications was followed by a major series on the ducks of India. These were illustrated by plates made by J.G. Keulemans. This established him as an expert on the game birds. • • • • • • • • • • • The work on ducks led to a further series on the waders and other game birds and this eventually led to a multi-volume book on game-birds. This series began in 1910 and ended in 1934. Along the way Baker also began to revise a list of the species found in India based on the work of Hartert for the
Palearctic region. Baker introduced trinomials in his "hand-list". • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ;Hand-list of the birds of India • • • • • • • •
Range extensions Baker continued to update the list and make corrections and note rarities being reported and on distributions. He noted the occurrence of Bewick's swans and
Anser brachyrhynchus (from near Dibrugarh). • • • • • • • • •
Books Several of Baker's works were revised and produced as books. The most significant work was the second edition to the
Fauna of British India series on birds. He noted that it was work in process and that errors were always likely to creep in. Some misprints and other problems were pointed out for instance by C.B. Ticehurst. Some like T.R. Livesey and
Hugh Whistler were completely opposed to Baker's use of trinomials. Baker took an interest in cuckoos and puzzled over how their eggs matched those of their hosts despite a single species parasitizing multiple species of hosts with entirely different kinds of eggs. He believed that cuckoos laid their egg on the ground and carried them in their bills into the nest of their host. He even cited Hume for a note on shooting a cuckoo with an egg looking like that of the host in its bill. One of Baker's correspondent provided him a blue egg from the oviduct of a female that had been shot. In a later note he observed that cuckoos destroyed one or two of the host's eggs before adding its own. Towards the end of his life Baker took a renewed interest in the ecology and evolution of cuckoos and was the topic of his last book in 1942. • • • ;Fauna of British India - second edition • • • • • • • •
Hand-list •
Nidification of Birds • • • • . ; Cuckoo problems • ==Footnotes==