Kerry,
I recommended both Byers et al and Rising and Beadle to my recent "Sparrows
of the Northwest" class taught for SAS. Both are excellent, and if you are
birding beyond the U.S. and Canada, Byers et al illustrate all the species
of the Neotropics and the Old World, including all those beautiful Emberiza.
Rising and Beadle anticipate potential species splits of current Sage and
Fox sparrow and illustrate a few more plumages. However, Byers et al have
much more detailed information on the many subspecies of North American
sparrows. I like the plates in Byers et al better, but I guess that is more
subjective. [Byers et al was available at Half-Price Books in Seattle
recently.] If you can, you may want to get both in order to compare two
excellent books for yourself.

Bob Sundstrom
ixoreus at home.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Kerry Turley <kdturley at bentonrea.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 1999 11:10 PM
Subject: Bird book question.


>
> Is anyone familiar with the following book? "Sparrows and Buntings : A
Guide
> to the Sparrows and Buntings of North America and the World" by Clive
> Byers, Urban Olsson, Jon Curson. I'm thinking of purchasing it and would
> like comments good or bad. Thank you.
>
> Kerry Turley
> 304 E. Woodin Rd.
> Sunnyside, WA 98944
> ICQ# 9396464
> http://users.bentonrea.com/~kdturley/
>