ORNITOLOGIA NEOTROPICAL 22: 627–631, 2011 © The Neotropical Ornithological Society BOOK REVIEWS—RESEÑAS DE LIBROS—RESENHAS DE LIVROS Edited by John G. Blake (To whom books for review should be sent) Parrots of the World. — Joseph M. Forshaw, With the publication of “Parrots of the Illustrated by Frank Knight. 2010. Princeton World” in 1973, Joseph Forshaw provided the Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. 336 first compilation of our knowledge of the pp. ISBN 9780691142852. Costs $29.95. e- birds of the order Psittaciformes (Forshaw Book ISBN 9781400836208. Costs $29.95. 1973). This encyclopedic tome, along with its The family Psittacidae contains more subsequent revisions including the landmark threatened species than any other bird family third edition in 1989, provided detailed (Bennett & Owens 1997, Birdlife Interna- descriptions of taxonomy, appearance, range, tional 2011). As a result there is a great need behavior, ecology, conservation status, habitat for information to inform conservation use, subspecies, and more. For this work, For- action. In the past twenty years, the amount shaw drew from personal observation, of research on parrots has increased dramati- exhaustive museum work, the published liter- cally as researchers and conservationists from ature and unpublished correspondence with around the world, especially those from par- nearly all the experts in the field at the time rot-range countries, have focused a great deal (Forshaw 1989). The work is clearly refer- of effort on this highly endangered group. enced providing the reader the source of each Parrots, like nearly all other bird families observation and supposition in the work. The worldwide, are threatened by habitat loss and 1989 edition is still a classic and contains climate change. However, these threats are unique information unavailable in any other compounded by intense direct exploitation publication. The artwork in these editions is for the domestic and international pet trade. exquisite both in its attention to detail and its This trade has created a need for efficient artistic beauty. However, it was not created to enforcement and made it possible for parrots facilitate identification. In 2006, he produced to appear in captivity or in the wild hundreds “Parrots of the World: an Identification of thousands of kilometers away from their Guide” as a handbook for researchers, gov- native ranges. These captive individuals have ernment officials, museum curators and afi- also created many opportunities for captive cionados who need to rapidly and accurately breeding to provide pets for the commercial identify parrots to specific or subspecific lev- trade and birds for reintroduction and other els (Forshaw 2006). This work moved away conservation initiatives. However, field from the model of the earlier volumes which research, enforcement, and effective captive sought to compile all known information on breeding all require accurate identification of parrot species and focused on providing parrot taxa. information principally useful for identifica- 627 BOOK REVIEWS—RESEÑAS DE LIVROS—RESENHAS DE LIVROS tion. This 2006 handbook includes only the viewing localities for each species. The habits names, alternative names, distribution, and habitats are presented for a minority of description, distinguishing features, similar species, especially where this information can species, subspecific descriptions, habitats and facilitate identification. Only the alternative status, habits, calls and suggested viewing names seem to be completely omitted from localities for each species. The illustrations of this streamlined version. Frank Knight, while hardly artistic, are crisp, The distribution maps effectively use clean, and accurate and accomplish their goal color and text labels to show the distributions of facilitating identification. Also of note is of the species and their principle subspecies. that this handbook shows illustrations of Unfortunately, the maps do not include inter- nearly all species in flight from both above national boundaries making it difficult for the and below, a characteristic which is very use- reader to orient themselves and determine ful for identifying psittacines as they fly over- distributional limits in inland areas. As the head. However, as Forshaw himself rightly author acknowledges, the creation of accurate points out, the size and weight of this 22 cm x range maps is very difficult due to the highly 31 cm tome greatly limits its usefulness as a incomplete knowledge of avian distributions, field identification guide. especially in the tropics. However, in a fairly With the 2010 publication of “Parrots of large number of instances (including 4 of 16 the World” as part of the Princeton Field macaw species) the illustrated range is incon- Guides series, the author has provided a guide sistent with the range as described in the text. that can be used either in the office or in the This an unfortunate type of error that should field to identify parrots anywhere in the be avoidable. world. The book is based on the information The plates contain Knight’s uncluttered and illustrations from the 2006 handbook and and accurate illustrations of all species incorporates relevant taxonomic updates. The perched in profile and nearly all species in six-page introduction includes summary flight. The flight illustrations are very useful information on parrot identification, vocaliza- given that this version can be taken out in to tion, habitat use, habits and status and conser- the field. The work includes two plates which vation. These sections summarize the illustrate 10 extinct and presumed extinct spe- variation of 350+ species in a few paragraphs cies, a grim reminder of the conservation on each topic and are by nature quite general, threats facing so many species in this family. but they do provide a useful introduction to The taxonomy is based on Dickinson’s the range of variation within psittacines and (2003) checklist of the birds of the world, a the complex conservation issues they face. widely accepted starting point for avian tax- The species descriptions and range maps are onomy (Gill & Donsker 2011). Forshaw var- all contained on the pages facing the plates, ies from the mainstream on some Latin making this guide quick and easy to use in the species names and species versus subspecies field. What I find most laudable about this decisions. He is quite liberal in his acceptance guide is that the massive reduction in size and of new Aratinga and Pyrrhura splits, but con- weight compared to the 2006 handbook was tinues to lump Amazona oratrix and A. auropal- accomplished with only a minor reduction in liata with A. ochrocephala as Yellow-crowned useful content. The 2010 edition contains the Amazon. The latter decision, while defensible length measurement, distinguishing features, given the current taxonomic confusion (Eber- calls, distribution, IUCN and CITES status, hard & Bermingham 2004, Russello & Amato similar species, subspecific descriptions, and 2004), contradicts the established taxonomy 628 BOOK REVIEWS—RESEÑAS DE LIVROS—RESENHAS DE LIVROS of many leading ornithological organizations book, local field guides and online references. (AOU 1998, Dickinson 2003, Gill & Donsker Over the last 40 years, the ornithological 2011, SACC 2011) and proposing a return to establishment has worked hard to standardize subspecific status for these taxa could have avian taxonomy. I feel that it is time that book strong negative impacts on the conservation publishers pressure the authors of avian of the endangered Central American taxa in monographs and field guides to follow the this group. English names as established by professional While the scientific names and taxonomic organizations except under unusual and variations appear relatively minor, the use of clearly justified circumstances. With all the English names in this work is most troubling. standardization work underway, we need to Since the 1973 edition of Parrots of the stop creating new names with each new publi- World, Forshaw has used an odd, and to me cation. highly unpredictable, hodgepodge of English The title of this work, “Parrots of the names. For Neotropical species in particular World,” suggests that this book could be an he tends to use names common in the avicul- update of the author’s classic 1989 3rd edition ture literature. However, he is inconsistent of Parrots of the World. Readers purchasing with this rule. For example he uses the avicul- this volume with that expectation will be ture name of Green-winged Macaw instead of sorely disappointed because as mentioned Red-and-green Macaw for Ara chloropterus yet above, the 1989 edition has artistic plates and uses Chestnut-fronted, Great Green, and exhaustive text and the 2010 edition has utili- Blue-winged Macaw instead of the aviculture tarian plates and minimalist text. It is unfortu- equivalents of Severe, Buffon’s and Illiger’s nate that the author and publisher did not Macaws. He has stuck with the term “conure” provide the buyer with a clearer indication of instead of the nearly universal “parakeet” for these differences in the title. the members of the genera Aratinga, Pyrrhura There are two other major works which and allies despite the fact that these genera are cover all known parrot species: Collar’s (1997) neither taxonomically monophyletic nor simi- chapter in the Handbook of Birds of the lar in behavior, ecology or vocalizations. In World, and Juniper and Parr’s (1998) “Parrots: one apparently odd choice, he adopts the a guide to parrots of the world.” Both of these name Mountain Conure for the newly works differ greatly from the Forshaw’s described Aratinga alticola instead of Chap- works. Both are more summarized and more man’s “Conure” which would have followed up to date than the species descriptions in from the name of Chapman’s Parakeet pro- Forshaw (1989) but provide more detailed posed by the original author (Arndt 2006) and sections on appearance, ecology, status, and accepted by the International Ornithologists’ distribution than Forshaw’s more recent pub- Union (Dickinson 2003). While such details lications (2006, 2010).