Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!stretch.cs.mun.ca!leif!dgraham From: dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca (David Graham) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Birding in Southwest England and Ireland Message-ID: <108506@kean.ucs.mun.ca> Date: 27 Jul 90 21:53:36 GMT References: <36067@vrdxhq.verdix.com> <107582@kean.ucs.mun.ca> Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada Lines: 43 In article , misan@ra.abo.fi (Annika Forsten DC) writes: > > For Britain the Heinzel guide includes rather a lot of unneccessary species. Yes. > Because of the large scope, the text about each species isn't very long. > Also the book is rather old by now. I like the look of the plates though, > they're nicely drawn (which doesn't neccessarily mean they are correct). Yes, yes, and yes. I must admit I've often wondered about the correctness of some of the birds, in the same way that Arthur Singer's illustrations for the North American 'Golden Guide' look almost too good sometimes. > The plates in the Hamlyn guide are much coarser, the birds don't look nice > (except for the new ones by Zetterstroem). But the text is superior, it > really includes much of the latest stuff about identification. But this > only goes for the latest revised edition, the earlier editions aren't > any better, in my opinion, than Heinzel. Heinzel is practical if you travel > over the whole of Western Palearctic, not just Europe. I must try to get hold of the Hamlyn guide (haven't seen it yet)--I'll be in Scotland in a couple of weeks and may have a chance then. > I agree about Peterson, not my choise. I haven't had time to look at my > copy of Jim Flegg's new book yet, but it doesn't include more than one > photo of each species, so I'd say it's rather useless as a field guide, > but useful as a companion to a field guide. I agree completely. I find photo guides little help in the field (with the possible exception of the _Audubon Society Master Guide_, which at 3 vols. is hardly a pocket edition anyway), but I marvel that anyone can take such splendid pictures. I guess I'm just a sucker for bird books.... > Annika Forsten, Abo Akademi, Finland misan@ra.abo.fi *************************************************************************** David Graham dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca ***************************************************************************