Handbook of the Birds of the World, volume 7

Forest and Bird, Issue 305, 1 August 2002, Page 44

Handbook of the Birds of the World, volume 7

Edited by J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, 613pp, hardbound, Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2002, Euro145. Email via: www.hbw.com

Subtitled from ‘Jacamars to Woodpeckers’ here is another huge reference volume from Lynx Editions, published in conjunction with Birdlife International of which Forest and Bird is a regional representative. The series purports to be the definitive work on the birds of the world and is certainly comprehensive. When progressive publication began about a decade ago, 12 volumes were planned but a survey of 3000 subscribers has led to a revised target of 16 volumes so more illustrations and detail can be included. This volume completes the coverage of ‘non-passerine’ birds and also includes 67 pages on extinct species. There are not many New Zealand birds among the ‘Jacamars to Woodpeckers’ but New Zealand has a shameful record among the extinctions. Only three of the moa are discussed in detail, but the pen portraits (often drawing on Sir Walter Buller) also include the Stephens Island wren, huia, piopio, two rails from the Chathams, the New Zealand quail and a depressing number of birds lost from neighbouring

Pacific island groups. The bulk of the volume, however, is made up of general essays on each family of birds, including fine behavioural photographs, and subsequent species portraits each with their own distribution map. Besides listing habitat, feeding, breeding and movements, there are notes on conservation status and a detailed bibliography. This is the kind of book which libraries and institutions should be collecting, volume by volume, as a reference for serious ornithologists. The price of Euro 145 is nearly $300 New Zealand dollars.