By Frйdйric Jiguet and Aurйlien Audevard

Princeton University Press, 2017; pbk, 447pp; 2,200 colour photos, many distribution maps; ISBN 978-0-69117-243-9

Ј24.95 – buy it from the BB Bookshop

This new photographic guide is billed as the ‘First comprehensive field guide to all species recorded in Europe’. Aside from a couple of very recent additions to Europe’s list, this appears to be an accurate claim: 860 species (and some distinctive subspecies) are covered, using 2,200 images. Although the title includes North Africa and the Middle East, this is somewhat misleading since only those species that have appeared in Europe are generally included. Thus, Crowned Sandgrouse Pterocles coronatus, Levaillant’s Green Woodpecker Picus vaillantii, Thick-billed Lark Rhamphocoris clotbey and many others are omitted, though a few potential vagrants from this wider region are included. All in all, Birds of Europe would have been a more sensible and accurate title.

A short introduction covers the basics of bird identification and topography and includes a useful section on the way light and posture can alter appearance. Although not specifically mentioned, this is particularly important in relation to photographs, which by definition capture an individual in an instant in time. Overall, the photographs selected seem to be carefully chosen, and are both of very high quality and well reproduced, but there are occasions when individuals of the same species appear quite different in coloration, either because of the ambient light when the image was taken or due to reproduction effects. Illustrations by competent artists iron out such variations in a way that even multiple photographic images often cannot. The number of images per species is variable. In a few cases there is only one image (for example Garden Warbler Sylvia borin), whereas species with more complex plumage variations have six or more photographs – for example some raptors and gulls.

A small map shows the range of each species (including in areas adjacent to Europe) and the short text covers the most salient identification features, especially in relation to similar species – and does so quite effectively, given the limitations of space. Voice and habitat preferences are also mentioned briefly. The photographs, some of which are incorrectly labelled, are also annotated with lines pointing to important features. These work less successfully and sometimes seem careless and inaccurate: when a feature is self-evident, describing it seem superfluous; some of the annotations point to the wrong place on the bird; and sometimes a feature is mentioned but is actually not clearly visible on the image or its relevance is obscure unless in possession of prior knowledge. Thus, it is not always clear whether what is mentioned is pertinent to the particular plumage category or to the species more generally.

These quibbles aside, this is a very fine collection of images of almost every species recorded in Europe and should allow most birds seen to be correctly identified. Europe and adjacent areas are of course well covered by bird identification guides, but the Collins Bird Guide (which covers 760 species) remains unsurpassed in terms of quality and accuracy. This new volume complements the Collins Bird Guide well and is very reasonably priced.

Chris Kehoe