160 BOOK REVIEWS Gulls of the with sections on taxonomy, field identi - Americas . 2007. fication, individual variation, geographi - Steve N .G. Howell and cal var ia tion, hybridization, topography, Jon Dunn . Houghton molts and plumages, age terminology, Mifflin. Boston and New York. Hardcover, molt strategies and behaviour. The final 17 x 2 6 cm, 1,160 200 plus pages are Species Accounts in colour photographs, ascending order of body size. There is a 516 pages. $45.95 section on Hybrid Gulls that discusses CAN. ISBN 13:978-0- 618-72641-7. regular hybrids occurring on both coasts, almost exclusively involving large gulls. Gulls of the Americas (hereafter H & D) is The book concludes with a Glossary, the latest in the Houghton Mifflin extensive Bibliography and a section on nature guide series. It is more precisely Geographic Terms. Medium-sized pho - termed one of the Peterson Reference tographs begin species account group - Guides. Indeed, the book’s large size and ings. A range map is found on the first weight preclude it as a field guide. Steve page of each Species Account. Included Howell and Jon Dunn have produced an are an identification summary, discus - exhaustive reference work for the 36 sions on taxonomy, status and distribu - species of gulls recorded in the Americas. tion, field identification vis-à-vis similar This includes 22 species that have bred species, detailed descriptions and molt. in North America, 10 that breed in Hybrids involving other species are listed South America, and 4 that strayed from and references for further information Europe and Asia. With a great volume of conclude each species account. An published identification material, H & D astounding 1,160 colour photographs are field identification experts. are contained in this book. Most are The book begins with the chapter found in the plate section (pages 47 to How To Use This Book. A lengthy but 298) sandwiched between the introduc - informative introduction follows, which tion and the species accounts. Most of is essential reading for the gull student. It my comments are directed at the impres - starts by defining gulls, and continues sive number of photographs. ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2007 161 My review compares this book to its the American Herring Gull ( Larus argen - main competitor Gulls of North America, tatus smithsonianus ), European Herring Europe and Asia by Olsen and Larsson Gull ( L. a. argentatus/ arg en t eus ) and Vega (2003), hereafter O & L. See the review Herring Gull ( L. a. vegae ) are best regard - of O & L by Pittaway (2005) in Ontario ed as separate species, but the American Birds . Both books were influenced by the Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) has not seminal work of Jonathan Dwight split them. Conveniently, H & D give (1925), and in the past quarter century these three subspecies groups separate by two editions of the splendid Gulls by accounts. O & L treat all three “Her ring the late Peter J. Grant (1982, 1986). H Gulls” as distinct species following Euro - & D’s 516 pages and O & L’s 608 make pean taxonomic decisions. The other both large, weighty tomes. Both are mar - conten tious group is the Ice land Gull velously produced and visually appeal - (Larus glaucoides ) complex. H &D give ing. I have not read all species accounts separate accounts for the North Ameri - in either book, but those exam ined are can breeding subspecies ( L. g. kumlieni ) free of typographical errors. The books and the Greenland nominate subspecies differ in price. My copy of O & L was L. g. glaucoides . They treat Thayer’s Gull $80.00 Canadian in 2004. H & D is a (Lar us thayeri) as a full species. See the relative bargain at $45.95 in 2007. O & Iceland Gull Complex on page 462 for a L is currently out of print in North discussion of this vexing issue. O & L Amer ica. handle both subspecies of Iceland Gull These books diverge in formatting separately in one section and Thayer’s and use of illustrations. O & L treats each Gull gets full species treatment. species as a separate entity with the text Which book should I buy? There are interspersed with illustrations (generally 36 species in H & D and 32 of them are excellent) followed by photographs. H & in O & L. I will make some comparisons D place a nearly all-encom passing block and let you decide. Field guides and of photographs in the first 300 or so hand books derive their success or failure pages. Species accounts follow in a sepa - from the quality of photographs and rate grouping. H & D is nearly devoid of illus trations. Gull study is heavily visual illu s trations save for the paintings of and detailed, and both H & D and O & Ross’s Gull on pages 71 and 73, Red-leg - L score highly in this regard. ged Kittiwake on pages 79 and 81, and a I heard comments about the small chart showing varying adult wing tip pat - images in H & D. The small photos in terns in Kumlien’s Gull on page 252. O&L are actually smaller than similarly These were done by Martin T. Elliott. sized photos in H & D. Though smaller, Another difference between the books is these images in O & L are consistently taxonomy, centred on two complex taxo - brighter and sharper than the slightly nomic groups. H & D ack nowl edge that larger ones in H & D. O & L has many VOLUME 25 NUMBER 3 162 more bright and larger sized photos than photographs. O & L combine these two H & D, and mixes large and small facets exceptionally well. through out the book. This creates a There are many pluses among the more attractive layout than in H & D, photographs in H & D such as the whose photos on most pages are small instructive use of photos in topographi - and similarly sized. cal diagrams on pages 18 to 22; the pho - Regarding complaints of dark and tos on pages 75 to 78 showing the subtle fuzzy images in H & D, I found very few differences between eastern and western that are a real concern. Some examples of Black-legged Kittiwake subspecies; the too dark photos are: Gray-hooded Gull eight photos of Ivory Gulls on pages 88 (p. 56, 3.4), Red-legged Kittiwake (p. and 89; a seldom seen side by side com - 80, 9.9), Lava Gull (p. 99, 15.9), Heer - parison of adult Franklin’s and Laughing mann’s Gull (p. 105, 16.15), Gray Gull Gulls on page 90; page 264 has three (p. 108, 17.8) and Glaucous-wing ed photos demonstrating that juvenile Gull (p. 238, 33.19, 33.20). Thayer’s Gulls can vary in appearance as In assessing the “too small” com - much as any large gull; and the 101 pho - plaint, I think that the small size of the tos on pages 274 to 298, of presumed photos in H & D exacerbates a problem hybrid large gulls, are a major resource in where the birds in the image are already the literature. This is the first major pub - small, particularly where two or more lication to have photos of these hybrids birds are compared. A pertinent example in a single group. Most hybrid gull pho - is on page 69 (6.6), Little Gull with a tos are from the West Coast, where Bon a parte’s Gull. Another case is a photo hybrids are frequent. showing a group of Sabine’s Gulls (p. 84, It is heartening to se e photo s of 10.6). uncom mon species in Ontario so well Hans Larsson’s fine illustrations in O represented such as 41 images of Califor - & L add lustre to that book, both for nia Gull ( L. californicus ) and 37 of Lesser their aesthetics and accuracy. Should H Black-backed Gull ( L. fuscus) . For species & D have used artist Martin Elliott more of regular occurrence in Ontario, I com - or perhaps the talents of Thomas pared captions and photos, checking that Schultz? The latter’s gull illustrations, they matched in terms of identification virtually unaltered through five editions and plumage. I found very few points of of the National Geographic Field Guide concern. Some examples are the bill on (2006) are eye pleasing and technically the Kumlien’s Gull in photo 35A.9 on correct. The already large size of H & D page 253. The bird is in its first calendar likely did not allow for extra pages of year, but the bill is markedly two-toned. illustrations considering the massive Juvenile Kumlien’s seen in autumn in number of photos. My preference is hav - southern Ontario are essentially black- ing superb illustrations and excellent billed, with the bill becoming obviously ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2007 163 pale basally only after New Year. Also, I shown using 34 photos of birds in all had difficulty determining the feather plumages from juvenile to adult. generation of the scapulars on this bird. I caution readers the plumage and The authors term it first cycle indicating molt terminology is heavy going and that they do not know its exact plum - should be read several times to fully age. Although it is often difficult to sep - understand it. Its basis is the Humphrey arate juvenal from first basic scapulars, and Parkes (1959) system of molts and my sense is that many Ont ario Kum - plumages. This under rated and under lien’s retain full juvenal plum age until utilized method is actually simple and New Year or later. Note the second cycle easy to use once learned. Ron Pittaway Kumlien’s Gull number 35A.39 on page introduced me to Humphrey and Parkes 259.