"Country Life" Guide to Birds of the World: Guide to the 185 Bird Families

by Oliver L. Austin, Jr.

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0600552284
• ISBN13: 9780600552284
• Release Date: May 1987
• Publisher: Hamlyn
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Inspirational, invaluable, still great today

Twenty years ago, when I was a young boy, I refused to leave a bookstore until this book was bought for me. To this day, I still enjoy referring to it. In the intervening years, I've traveled the world watching birds. I've studied them at the highest levels. And yet I continue to find intriguing facts in this book which are new to me. I continue to be awed by the beauty of birds I've not yet seen, and may never see. The illustrations by Singer can quickly transport the reader emotionally. In contrast with his illustrations for the Golden Field Guide to Birds of North America, these paintings are far more artistic. In most cases, the species chosen to represent families are just right: exemplary, yet extraordinary. There are only a few families missing the ideal illustration, e.g. the herons have no Goliath Heron, the cuckoos have no Chestnut Malkoha. One look at the toucans, the hummingbirds, the birds of paradise... and you wonder how anyone could dare harm a feather on these birds. Austin's text is remarkably current, despite being 20+ years old. His ornithology is first rate. Sources cited are exhaustive, and include Mayr, Lorenz, and Charles Sibley, whose later works include the landmark "Phylogeny" and "Taxonomy" tomes. The chart of species diversity through time... who would have thought that there were once as many species of Gruiformes as there are now of Passeriformes? What drove the Diatryma group to extinction 30 million years ago? -or the section on hummingbirds... it's amazing to think that some species are known to science thanks only to the 19th century millenary trade, which preserved now-extinct hummingbirds as brooches. -Little morphological facts like the Touraco's water-soluble copper-based pigment, turacin... they can stimulate a thousand more questions. When most bird colors are due to refraction, why does this group rely on real pigments? I glanced at the dust cover's list price. Back in 1984, $26.95 was a significant sum. In today's dollars, that would be about $53 according to Fed Reserve CPI stats. I'd say the book is worth even more. If only all children grew up with a book like this at home, the world would have no trouble conserving nature; everyone would be on the same page.

Excellent book with lots of beautiful drawings.

This book is loaded with color pictures of numerous birds from around the world..I found pictures of birds in this book that I couldn't find in my other bird books (I have many). Though it's an older book,it's a useful addition to my bird reference library. Definitely worth buying if you like pictorial bird books.