Jack and other tweets,

I have both books and have used both books actively in the field in Europe.

"Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East", by Lars Jonsson,
first published in English in 1992, contains remarkably fine art and is
beloved by many European birders. As a non-European, I found it difficult
to use in the field, in part because many European birds vary in appearance
across their range, and the forms painted are mainly those which occur in
Scandinavia. The illustrations are lovely to look at, but the bird
skulking away from you may not show itself quite the way Jonsson has
painted it, so it can be hard to relate your view to the artwork that he
presents.

"Collins Bird Guide -- the Most Complete Field Guide to the birds of
Britain and Europe", text by Lars Svensson & Peter Grant, illustrations by
Killian Mullarney & Dan Zetterstrom, first published in English in 1999, is
widely considered in Europe to be the new, standard European field guide.
The illustrations are less artsy but IMHO are much more useful in the field
than Jonsson's. More geographic variation and plumages are shown; the text
is more complete; and the book even weighs less (in hardcover).

If you obtain only the latter, I think you will be a much happier birder in
Europe than if you obtain only the former. Jonsson is great, however, to
show your envious friends at home what you saw.

Cheers,

Bill
-----------------
The Smiths
Grays Harbor, Washington USA
birdsmiths at hotmail.com