Warblers (v.6) (Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic)

This new and authoritative reference work takes into account the great advances made in ornithology since the publication of theHandbook of British Birds (1938-41), which for many years provided the basis on which ornithological research was built. Ornithologists now work on a wider geographical basis and this newHandbook covers the whole of the western Palearctic. The eight volumes together contain descriptions of over 760 species of birds, of which about 600 are breeding species. Each breeding species is described in full, with sections on field characters, habitat, distribution, mortality and longevity, population (with maps showing the breeding and wintering areas), social pattern and behavior, breeding, food, voice, plumages, moults, measurements, weights, structure, and geographical variation. Regular migration and accidental species are treated under these headings where relevant. This volume, the sixth in the series, contains descriptions of 64 species. Each volume features specially commissioned color plates of each species, showing the full range of normal plumage together with more distant flight views. Color plates of eggs, black-and-white illustrations, and many text-figures showing such features as display postures, voice sonograms and melograms, and annual cycles are also in abundance. TheHandbook is an indispensable work of reference, both for the professional scientist and for the ever-growing body of amateur ornithologists whose range of interests is expanding every year.