Birds described in 1875 include the Anjouan sparrowhawk, Caucasian grouse, Nelson's sparrow, yellow-capped pygmy parrot, red-tailed shrike, spotted catbird, spectacled barwing, tit berrypecker, bridled honeyeater and Taczanowski's tinamou.

• Death of Carl Jakob Sundevall
• Death of John Edward Gray
• Joseph Marshall Wade establishes a popular journal The Ornithologist and Oologist

• Howard Irby The Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar R. H. Porter, 1875
• Richard Bowdler Sharpe Catalogue of the Striges, Or Nocturnal Birds of Prey, in the Collection of the British Museum. (1875).
• John Gould The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan islands : including many new species recently discovered in Australia London :Henry Sotheran & Co.,1875-1888. online BHL

• Theodor von Heuglin Ornithologie von Nordost-Afrika (Ornithology of Northeast Africa) (Cassel, 1869–1875)
• John Gould The Birds of Asia 1850-83 7 vols. 530 plates, Artists: J. Gould, H. C. Richter, W. Hart and J. Wolf; Lithographers: H. C. Richter and W. Hart
• Henry Eeles Dresser and Richard Bowdler Sharpe A History of the Birds of Europe, Including all the Species Inhabiting the Western Palearctic Region. Taylor & Francis of Fleet Street, London.
• Etienne Mulsant, Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-Mouches, ou Colibris constituant la famille des Trochilides (published 1874-77)
• Paolo Savi Ornitologia Italiana Firenze :Successori Le Monnier,1873-1876. (opera posthuma 1873–1876)
• The Ibis