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This comprehensive book brings together all that is known on the biology of the Little Owl Athene noctua. Exhaustive chapters reach back as far as the fossil record, and cover taxonomy (including the authors’ arguments for why they believe the Little Owl should be maintained as a single species), morphology (including specific sections on the morphology of the eyes, ears and digestive organs), distribution and population, habitat, diet, an extensive chapter on breeding, behaviour and population. The text is broken down into numbered chapters and sections; for example, a single paragraph on population estimates in Georgia is given the heading 5.5.42.2 (being the second part of the 42nd country covered in the fifth section of chapter 5). This approach, combined with the heavy referencing, gives the book a rather formal appearance. Fear not, however, as I found (if you can skim over the slightly overzealous subheadering) the text enjoyable to read and not at all heavy going.

The text is broken by a multitude of graphs, tables and maps, while several chapters contain line-drawings and the early chapters on morphology are accompanied by a series of beautiful plates depicting the wide variation in the species.

While this may not be a title that you’ll sit down to read cover to cover, it will certainly be an attractive book to dip in and out of, either in search of specific research topics on the species or simply to pick through some of the many fascinating short chapters. All in all, the authors are to be congratulated on such a thorough and authoritative publication.

Stephen Menzie