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From: jhiggott@dumbo.axion.bt.co.uk (jeff higgott)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Some new European field guides: reactions?
Message-ID: <1990Aug31.115838.27128@axion.bt.co.uk>
Date: 31 Aug 90 11:58:38 GMT
References: <129704@kean.ucs.mun.ca>
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In article <129704@kean.ucs.mun.ca>, dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca (David Graham)
writes:
|> The last thing I want to do is start another argument about the merits 
|> of different field guides,  

  Nothing wrong with a constructive discussion though.

|> Birds by Character: The Fieldguide to Jizz Identification. Rob Hume, 
|> ill. by Ian Wallace, Darren Rees, John Busby, Peter Partington. 
|> Macmillan, 12.75 pounds.  Bills itself as "The most important new 
|> fieldguide for decades" (!). Sounds useful if well done.

  I've seen this and am very unimpressed.  The reviews that I've seen are very 
  kind to the book.  The drawings are tiny sketches, several of a species
  crammed into a small area.  There is also a distribution map for each species
  covered and a few lines describing the jizz.  This text I find irritating.
  The comments are often subjective and won't really help the user.
  Some of the pictures are quite nice - John Busby is a good artist when it   
comes to capturing jizz.  THe real test I feel is to turn to a familiar 
  species which you know inside out and see if you get a warm feeling.  I     
looked at very common species and rarer species, and have to admit that I was
  not convinced.  Somehow there was something missing.
  Admittedly jizz is very hard to capture, since by its very nature it is a 
  personal thing.  I was impressed by the Hamlyn photographic guide to European
  Birds.  Photos can very easily lack jizz, but the selection chosen for this 
  book are on the whole very good.  This book is *far* more use than the
  `jizz guide'.
    My advice - give `Birds by Character' a miss.  It certainly isn't `The
  most important new fieldguide for ages'.

|> Kingfisher Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland. Same
|> authors as below, 7.45 pounds.

 UGH!  Some nice pictures, yes, but not always accurate.  There are very few
  pictures of each species (often only one), which isn't much help if you've
  seen a bird in a plumage not described.  The text is not brilliant and the
  space devoted to this is wasted (a lot of space but not much info).  The
  choice of species is a bit random - eg Icterine Warbler is included but
  Melodious isn't (or is it the other way round?).
    My advice - give it a miss.  

|> Kingfisher Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe. John 
|> Gooders, ill. by Alan Harris. Kingfisher, 10.95 pounds.  Blurb says 
|> this is "the definitive guide to British and European birds, covering 
|> 427 species". Also that the illustrations are "superbly detailed and 
|> accurate".

  As above but more species included.  The pictures are superbly detailed
  but not always accurate.
   My advice - give it a miss.  It certainly isn't "the definitive......".
 


* Jeff Higgott 
*                                                                           *
* "It had a ring of dots across its breast" - Biffer Bonnet