Author Description

This book is full of the wonderful illustrations of Roger Tory Peterson. The book itself, authored by James Fisher, is laid out in four principle sections: First an out line of ornithology as a science, developing by pictures and words some of the facets that have inspired ornithologists through the years, second a discussion of the techniques, tools and tasks of international bird watching. Then follows a full classification and mapping of bird families with a census of acceptable genera and species – fossil, recently extinct, and living. The World of Birds is the only available book that provides a section of maps which show the geographical distribution of bird families. Finally, there is an essay which discusses the relation of birds to man and the problems of conservation. There is also a black list of the worlds extinct birds and a red list of the vanishing species.