Well, it finally came after being on back order (actually front
order since it had not yet come out) since September.



BOOK REVIEW:
_Sparrows and Buntings-a guide to the Sparrows and Buntings of
North America and the World_, Clive Byers, Jon Curson and Urban
Olsson, 1995, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

_Sparrows and Buntings_ is the new addition to Houghton Mifflin's
series of identification guides singling out specific groups of
birds. This book should not be confused with the earlier work
_Finches and Sparrows_ which dealt almost entirely with European
"true finches and sparrows." This book focuses almost exclusively
on the Holarctic Emberizinae, that is, European buntings and their
North American counterpart "nearctic sparrows." Most strictly
neotropical sparrows have been excluded.

Most field guide enthusiasts focus initially on the illustrations
and the illustrations in this book suffer from the typical
weaknesses associated with European artist painting North American
birds...they are all shaped like buntings, stout bodied and bull-
necked. Most of the drawings seem washed out, but then, that is a
field mark for the majority of North American sparrows. The
illustrations are generally accurate and presented in a variety of
poses.

Most of the obvious variations are well represented, though
Song Sparrow only rated half a plate and none really looks like
something one would expected to see in my part of the west coast
(even _Morphna_ is a little too contrasty here for my expectation).

There is a full plate of Dark-eyed Juncos. Fox Sparrow gets
two-thirds of a plate and includes the deep chocolate Pacific
Northwest race (though the lack of a yellowish lower mandible in
all pictures suggested these birds were drawn from skins). There
is a even half a bird (next to Brewer's Sparrow) representing
Timberline Sparrow.

This book shines, however, in the text, describing briefly all
recognized subspecies, presenting good range maps and in many
cases detailed descriptions of tail markings and other diagnostic
plumage characters with many helpful line drawings. Each species
discussion includes the usual identification details, as well as
moulting, ageing, general measurements, geographical variation and
information on hybridisation (there is, apparently on record of
White-throated x Golden-crowned). There are three and a half pages
devoted to juncos, including drawings on subspecific variations
in the amount of white in junco tails. References for each species
account are included.

This addition to the series is a solid comeback from the
disappointing _Woodpeckers_. I suspect that most serious sparrow
watchers would consider this a useful addition to their library.
Those who appreciate bird books for the art work may be less
impressed, and may want to look over a copy at Powell's or their
local Audubon Society outlet before investing.

--
*********************************** We're all living in the future.
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * I'll tell you how I know-
* mpatters at orednet.org * I read it in the paper 15 years ago..
*http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters* -John Prine