PIGEONS AND DOVES By David Gibbs, Eustace Barnes & John Cox. Pica Press, Sussex, 2001. 615 pages; 76 colour plates; 314 species illustrated in colour; 309 maps. ISBN 1-873403-60-7. Hardback, £38.00. Everyone is familiar with pigeons and doves; indeed, one species (Rock Pigeon Columba livia, as it is named in the book) occurs in a wild or feral state across vast tracts of every continent except Antarctica. Unfortunately, nobody can claim familiarity with all of the 319 species covered. Not only are half of them confined to islands, but many are threatened, several are critically endangered, and at least 11 are extinct, including the Dodo Raphus cucullatus and Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius. Pigeons and Doves contains sections entitled Contents, Acknowledgements, Introduction, Scope and Layout of the Book, Topography, Bibliography, and Index, but it is the Colour Plates and the Systematic Section, 92% of the pages, that will be the most frequently consulted. The 76 full-page colour plates are sure to attract more than the odd `coo' of appreciation. They are all of a high standard, while a number of them are quite superb; habitat backdrops add perspective and atmosphere to many and enhance their eyecatching appeal. On average, each one covers four species and contains eight large, boldly painted images of birds at rest, and five or six smaller images of flying birds. Each bird is coded, and is captioned on a facing page with its age and, where relevant, its sex and with comments on the species' range, structure

Volume: 
Issue 7
Start Page: 
336
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