A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe

Peterson Field Guides #8

by Guy Mountfort, P.A.D. Hollum, Roger Tory Peterson (Editor)

With 364 range maps and 96 color plates portraying 548 species, this is the classic field guide to European birds. Covering 698 species, the descriptive text includes information on geographical races, vagrants, and introduced species. Confusing species such as waders, raptors, and warblers have additional notes on how to distinguish them.

Genres: Reference, Birds, Science, Nonfiction, Nature, Biology, Field Guides

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

Reviews

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 1983 edition is in the old (I'll call low-budget) format of the original Peterson field guides, with color plates all collected and put in the center of the book, away from the associated text which is printed on cheaper paper. At least there are colored range maps (as opposed to the text descriptions of range used by really old field guides), but they are all stowed inconveniently at the end. This archaic layout is so unhelpful that I never used this book, opting for Hermann Heinzel's very fine field guide of the same vintage. Peterson's has since been updated to the newer layout.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for a recent trip to Europe.The bool is adequate. The pictures are accurate but the maps and some of the distribution in seem to need updating. There is one Czechoslovakia, though the Velvet Divorce was 20 years ago. Several species that were rather common where I went (Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Munich) appear to be far removed from those locales acccording to the maps.

providing the names in multiple languages was helpful.

[Sheri Fresonke Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful guide to the birds of Britain and Europe. Good descriptions of the bird, good photographs. Primary guide used while in England birding.