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Australian Field Ornithology 2016, 33, 33–34 http://dx.doi.org/10.20938/afo33033034 Book Review The World of Birds by Jonathan Elphick The Natural History Museum, London (published in Australia by CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne), 2014. Hardcover, colour photographs, black-and-white diagrams, 608 pp. RRP AU$90. This book is an with the extraordinary level of scholarship and detail in a encyclopaedic treatment readable, amateur-friendly text. The liberal use of subject of just about everything subheadings means that one can ‘cherry-pick’ a topic of the amateur birder or interest by dipping into the book. ornithologist might want Chapter 10, being the balance of the book (a little to know about the origins, over half), is an exposition of the world’s bird orders and basic biology, behaviour, families,a arranged in taxonomic sequence from ratites ecology, biogeography, to the higher passerines. For each order, there is a brief and ‘family trees’ of the introduction on its family composition and some typical world’s birds (and it is a handy summary for members, and often a comment on the interim nature of professionals, too). It the taxonomic treatment pending further work on DNA. is a book that we have Then follows a tabulated profile of each family, giving needed for a long time, to the number of genera and species, and (for its members help field those questions as a whole) their size/weight range, distribution and in bird newsletters, the Birding-Aus chatline and so on habitat, social behaviour, nests and eggs, incubation and about how or why birds do certain things, their anatomy or nestling periods, food, calls, migration and conservation physiology etc. Now one can look it up, with the expectation status, followed by a commentary text on the attributes of that the answer will be in there somewhere, or can be typical members of that family (and subfamilies or lower inferred from the information presented. subdivisionsb as applicable). Chapter 1 covers the fossil history and evolution of The book finishes with a helpful glossary; an appendix birds, including those featured in Australia’s extinct explaining the IUCN/BirdLife Red List criteria; reference megafauna. Chapter 2 deals with anatomy and physiology, lists for each chapter; useful lists of CDs and DVDs, explaining everything from skeletal and organ/endocrine/ organisations and websites; a subject index; and an nervous systems to the senses, sound (song) production index of bird families and names (common and scientific). and plumage (feather types and structure etc.), with Throughout, the text is lavishly illustrated with often an emphasis on adaptations for flight. Chapter 3 then stunning action photographs. focusses down on flight and how birds fly. Chapter 4 The taxonomic treatment in Chapter 10 follows the discusses food and feeding, covering the various food Howard & Moore checklist 3rd edition (2003). Although types, foraging behaviour, methods and strategies, with I appreciate that a book like this takes a long time to examples of adaptive anatomy. Chapter 5 explores the prepare, it has been overtaken by the Howard & Moore topic of bird societies and populations, covering territories 4th edition (non-passerines 2013, with passerines in prep. and territorial behaviour, flocking, population regulation in 2014). Consequently, the taxonomy is a little dated, (factors influencing stability or otherwise), and life-history although the author often foreshadows more recent DNA- strategies. Chapter 6 describes and explains almost based changes. Also, the family treatment and sequence everything about the breeding cycle of birds, from mating for some Australian passerines will be unfamiliar to local systems, courtship, copulation and fertilisation, songs and birders (the BirdLife Australia working list and current IOC calls, to nests, eggs and incubation (including anatomy list notwithstanding). and physiology of the egg), and development and care of young. Chapter 7 covers zoogeography, the world’s Inevitably, in a work of this magnitude, there are minor faunal regions, how birds got to be where they are, and slips and errors. A few I noticed include booted eagles (i.e. Earth’s biomes and habitats. Chapter 8 is all one might with feathered tarsi) having ‘booted’ tarsal scales; a figure want to know about bird migration (e.g. types/patterns and caption transposes bird versus mammal enucleated red how birds navigate). Chapter 9, on birds and humans, is blood cells (though correct in the text); Wedge-tailed is not an incisive commentary on what we have done to birds larger than Golden Eagle; Great Grey Owl is not ‘huge’ and the global environment, including explanation of (many owls are much heavier); Black-breasted Buzzard the IUCN/BirdLife Red List categories, emphasising the using stone tools is hardly a ‘new’ discovery if the Aborigines current extinction rate (12.5% of bird species are globally told John Gilbert (Gould’s collector) about it; cartwheeling threatened) and that human overpopulation is the key in raptors is usually fighting rather than courtship; in the problem, and discussion of conservation strategies. Each ‘box’ on internal incubation (by cuckoos) ‘hatching’ should chapter has several ‘boxes’ of interesting examples or be ‘laying’; ‘Red-breasted’ Falcon should be ‘Red-footed’; side-topics, and to this point I was repeatedly impressed photograph of ‘Greater Sooty Owl’ is a Lesser Sooty Owl; 34 Australian Field Ornithology Book review: The World of Birds ‘Sitella’ repeatedly for ‘Sittella’. However, these scarcely this volume in their arsenal, not least so that print and detract from an amazing achievement, and on the plus side online forums are less cluttered with questions that now there is, for example, a realistic discussion of Peregrine have ready answers in this wonderful book, and perhaps Falcon flight speeds rather than just repeating the usual instead we shall hear more of what the birds they twitch or hype. Other matters on e.g. raptor and button-quail ordinal watch are actually doing. This book is also a most valuable classification, parrot/cockatoo familial classification, reference for the more serious ornithologist. accipitrid and aquiline relationships, reflect the dated taxonomy compared with post-2003 DNA papers. Stephen Debus As well as their field guides and ‘Where to find birds…’ types of books, twitchers and amateur birders should have University of New England, Armidale, NSW.

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