The Bird Book - Softcover

Birds as a non-fiction publishing subject surely has the potential of art; perhaps it is more popular than fashion or maps. "The Bird Book" is produced with similar values to "The Art Book" and its successors. The paintings are reason alone to buy the book: they are attractive, absorbing images in their own right. This is also a useful bird recognition guide: the artwork is accurate, with more than enough plumage and anatomical detail to separate every species. Peter Hayman, the artist, is well known in the bird world for his uniquely precise depiction of almost every feather and for showing exact body proportions. To help with identification, two essential basic features are provided: A distribution map and size comparison silhouettes. And the text provides tips on distinguishing the species from look-alikes. The book stops short of exploring the complications of male and female differences, adult and juvenile or summer and winter visitor, except when this information is needed to pinpoint identification. In this sense, "The Bird Book" is not a mainstream field guide. A book you have to have - or give to someone else.

THE ARTIST, Peter Hayman, is one of Britain's best known and best-selling bird artists. His work ranges from the mainstream and popular (for example the best-selling Shell Easy Bird Guide and The Birdlife of Britain) to high-level, scientific natural history guides, for example his work for Christopher Helm's Sea Shore and Waders Guide. THE AUTHOR, Rob Hume, is another respected figure in the bird world, having been the author or a contributor to AA/RSPB Book of British Birds; Dorling Kindersley's Birdwatching and Macmillan's Birds by Character. He is employed by the RSPB as editor of Birdlife magazine and has been a member of the British Rarities Committee.