By Dick Forsman. T. & A. D. Poyser, London, 1999. 589 pages; over 700 colour photographs. ISBN 0-85661-098-4. Hardback £29.95. One cannot fail to be impressed by the depth of knowledge contained in this book. For more than two decades, Dick Forsman has probably been the leading authority on European raptors and, along with Bill Clark, has made one of the greatest contributions to the advancement of their field identification. The small group of Danes (Steen Christensen prominent amongst them) who published those first eagle and buzzard flight-identification papers in Dansk Ornitologisk Forenings Tidsskrift 30 years ago would never have dreamed that their pioneering work would have led to a tome such as this. Essentially, this is a photographic guide covering 43 species that occur in Europe and the Middle Eastern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. In that respect, `Middle East' is a slight misnomer in the book's title; indeed, it is a pity that the whole of the Middle East has not been included, so as to cover tricky species such as Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax, Amur Falcon Falco amurensis and, ideally, Oriental Honey-buzzard Pernis ptilorhyncus. For each species, the text covers subspecies, distribution, habitat, movements, hunting and prey. Then follow detailed sections on identification (in which the notes on confusion species are particularly valuable), moult, ageing and sexing. The text is complemented by an excellent series of photographs (mostly flight) showing all plumage patterns clearly.
