should change, and soon! Lars Jonsson is

probably most recognized by birders in the

U.S. for an authoritative article he illus-

trated on the Calidris sandpipers that was

published in American Birds. European

birders have known him as a result of his

artistically impressive Birds in the Wild.

This series of five volumes -Birds of the

Mediterranean and Alps; Birds of Lake,

River, Marsh and Field; Birds of Sea and

Coast; Birds of Wood, Park and Garden;

Birds of Mountain Regions - are out of

print but still sought due to the artwork.

Birds of Europe with North Africa and the

Middle East is an updated compilation of

those earlier works.

This compact (5.25 x 8.25) hardcover

covers all the regularly occurring European

bird species with a few additions from

North Africa and the Middle East. It has im-

portant and well presented topics in an in-

troduction that should be read by all birders.

Birds' feathers, topography, molt, plumage

(age) terminology, calendar-year terminol-

ogy, color variation and how it can be af-

fected, voice, behavior, distribution, migra-

tion, vagrants and systematics are some of

the topics covered. They are all presented

with an easy to read and understand style

and accompanied by all new illustrations.

Illustration. A simple word used to de-

scribe the artwork presented in a book. The

iillustrations contained in Birds of Europe

with North Africa and the Middle East are

better described as works of art. Lars

Jonsson has, in my opinion, no peer when it

comes to bird illustration. He has taken field

guide illustration to a higher level, one that

we can only hope to see others emulate.

These plates are not what you have come to

expect in a field guide. The birds are pre-

sented in various lifelike positions, not the

stiff (and often unrealistic) poses we see in

many guides. Jonsson's knack of showing

birds from many different angles, with ex-

acting accuracy, and ·in a lifelike manner de-

fine his style - and this field guide. Each

plate has more plumages illustrated than we

have been used to seeing in a field guide, all

of them in Jonsson's exacting and artistic

manner. [ particularly enjoy the fact that

many species are illustrated in flight on the

same page as the species account and pri-

mary illustrations. This gives you, in an in-

stant, a complete picture of the bird. This

prevents the aggravating page flipping to

find a single in-flight illustration on a page

with 20 other species that [ find so irritating

with other field guides. While such com-

parison plates are found in Birds of Europe

with North Africa and the Middle East, they

are always beneficial for comparative rea-

sons, and not done to conserve space or an

artist's effort. Jonsson seems to be at his

best when working with shorebirds. One of

the most difficult groups of birds to illus-

trate well, the shorebird plates are incred-

ible and are worth the price of this book

alone. The plate showing a number of Ruffs

displaying on a lek deserves special men-

tion, and is by far my favorite. Other plates

that stand out include: a Scops Owl show-

ing its protective coloration, the sandgrouse

plate, the Bee-eaters and 99% of the shore-

bird plates.

Criticisms of this book are minimal.

While a few of the plates seem to be blurry

or out of focus, this appears to be limited to

those plates from the Birds in the Wild se-

ries that were not redone. This indicates to

me that this effect is a result of printing or

reproduction difficulties, as comparisons to

the earlier work showed none of these prob-

lems. Of minor inconvenience to U.S. bird-

ers may be the use of British names (this is

a European field guide after all!) but this by

itself is not much of a problem for more

experienced birders.

Minnesota birders may ask, "Why would

I want to buy a European field guide?" As-

suming that you are not traveling to Europe

(where this would be THE field guide to

use), here are just a few reasons. While the

price may be slightly higher than your typi-

cal field guide, THIS IS NOT A TYPICAL

FIELD GUIDE! Many species that occur

regularly in Minnesota are illustrated in an

exacting manner. The introduction topics

and presentation, highly accurate treatment

of many of Minnesota's birds (or potential

birds) and the fantastic artwork are all rea-

son enough to add this book to your collec-

tion. Kim Risen, 5756 Brunswick Ave N,

Crystal, MN 55428.

42 The Loon Vol. 66