Tweets,

Hal Opperman suggested that the following message I posted to a national
newsgroup would be of interest to the Tweeters audience, as well. Here
it is. After I posted it, I received word that Buteo Books now has it
available in the USA, although I don't know details. Amazon.com does
not list it.
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I want to second Will Russell's comment, that the new "Collins Bird
Guide" subtitled "The Most Complete Field Guide to the Birds of Britain
and Europe" is an outstanding leap forward in serious field guides. We
can only hope that it will soon be emulated for North American birds.

The English-language edition, published in the UK in 1999 by Harper
Collins, lists the authors in the sequence Mullarney, Svensson,
Zetterstrom, Grant. This is quirky in that Svensson in fact is the
primary author, Mullarney the primary illustrator. The original edition
(in Sweedish) lists Svensson first, as do some European book catalogs
(such as www.nhbs.com) even for the English edition. In any language,
it appears not (yet) available directly in North America. The only
version available to date is hard cover, which is a bit heavy for field
use.

This book should NOT be confused with two other useful, popular
books for European birds -- "Collins Pocket Guide [to] Birds of Britain
and Europe", by Heinzel, Fitter & Parslow; or "Birds of Europe" by Lars
Jonsson.
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P W (Bill) Smith
Grays Harbor, Washington USA
birdman at techline.com