REVIEW: _All the Birds of North America_. Jack E. Griggs (ed.). 1997.
Harper Perennial, NY.

I just purchased the American Bird Conservancy's _All the Birds of
North America_ which purports to be designed around "A revolutionary system
based on feeding behaviors and field recognizable features." I picked one up at
CostCo for $11.95 (cover price $19.95.) Is it revolutionary? No. Is it
worth $11.95? Yes. $19.95? Maybe.

The guide is divided into two sections, one for water birds, one for
land birds. Nothing revolutionary here... Early Peterson's and the Early
Audubon Guides (Pough) did this. These sections are further broken down into
niche categories (again not particularly revolutionary.) Individual pages
contain illustrations of birds in the same size/behavior class allowing for
good comparison.

12 artist/illustrators produced the various plates for this book,
including our own Larry McQueen (of whom I am a big fan, but I'll try not to
gush.) The quality of the art work is all over the map from bad (the
hummingbird section by F.P.Bennett) to superior (the gull, duck and wader
sections, the raptor section, the warbler section and the sparrow section.)
Alternate plumages are well represented as are several single North American
records (like Western Reef Heron).
Empidonax flycatchers are a complete cop-out with no really useful
information on the complex (except maybe bill shape/size). The color in this
section is washed out and comes nowhere near reality. Alder/Willow are lumped
into on picture "Western" is lumped into one picture and described in the
text as inseparable.

The text is adequate. Most notable is the consistency with which
calls are describe. All songs are spelled out where possible (eg. chick-a-
dee-dee-dee.) If you find this an odd comment take a look at how most other
field guides go about describing calls. Introduction pages contain useful
details that separate each group from others in the book.

The maps contain all the usual mistakes making this book no better or
worse than any other.

The biggest plus is the 4x8 size... it'll fit in your back pocket.

All in all, I would have to say that this is a good try at re-
structuring field guides. Oldtimers, used to finding the pictures by knowing
the taxonomic order will probably grumble at the layout, but beginners may
actually find this a better book than National Geographic.

My new ranking:
1. National Geographic Guide (still best in illustration and text)
2. All Birds Guide
3. Audubon Masters (unwieldy)
4. Peterson's (venerable)
5. Golden Guide (still probably the best value)
6. MacMillian (sorted by color)



--
*********************************** I got the blues so bad one time
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * it put my face in a permanent frown
* mpatters at orednet.org * but I am feelin' so much better
*http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters* I could cake-walk into town