- Hardcover: 309 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press (13 April 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 019854667X
- ISBN-13: 978-0198546672
- Product Dimensions: 25.7 x 20.1 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,175,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Penguins, 17 species, are fascinating birds. This monograph is an excellent introduction to them. It discusses distribution, origins and evolution, breeding and moult, populations, behavior, foraging ecology, physiology, and conservation. Anyone interested in these birds will welcome this important book. Most highly recommended."--Wildlife Activist
"This is an extremely well-written book. When I picked it up to read random sections for this review, I found myself pulled in to the narrative. ... John Busby's text drawings are terrific. ... It is time to start lobbying your local library -- and for those of you who love penguins, it is time to buy this exceptional volume." -- Birding
"Williams has had considerable research experience with birds of polar areas, including penguins ... The species accounts provide detailed information on plummage, size, distribution, voice, diet and other specifics of their natural history ... An exhaustive biliography reflects the care that went
Product Description
Bird Families of the World is a multivolume series of handbooks, intended to serve the interests of both the professional scientist and the serious amateur ornithologist. Each volume will provide a comprehensive and accurate synthesis of our knowledge of one bird family or several related families. In each book the reader will find: * Six to nine general chapters on the biology, feeding ecology, breeding behaviour, evolutionary relationships, and conservation of the family * Specially commissioned colour plates by a leading artist, showing both sexes and juveniles of all species and many subspecies * Black and white drawings illustrating special features and behaviour * Individual species descriptions including appearance, weights, and measurements; field characters; voice; habitat and food; breeding behaviour; life cycle; and range and status (with distribution map). These will provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date species-level information available. * Full bibliography and index. This book is intended for professional and amateur ornithologists, birdwatchers; zoologists; ecologists; members of Ornithological societies in all countries.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What I like about animal books in general is that they are comprehensivewith respect to the subject they cover. This book on penguins satisfiesthis criterion in every respect. I should point out, however, that thisbook is conceived as a scientific work, with all relevant characteristics,such as a lot of references, measurements of birds and eggs, andstatistical data to justify the statements that are made. Despite this, Ias a nonspecialist found the book pleasantly readable. A lot of the purelytechnical data appear in smaller print, which contributes to thereadability. Although it is not the kind of book one would read from coverto cover in one go, it is a book I like to return to often to look upvarious information on these birds.
I especially like the second part of the book, which is devoted to adetailed description of all 17 penguin species, including detailed mapsshowing their distribution. This part of the book is illustrated withcarefully drawn colour plates showing all species, including males andfemales if they differ significantly, and chicks. To a certain extent, itis a pity that all the other illustrations in the book areblack-and-white, but I presume this was necessary to keep this fairlyspecialised and thick book affordable.
I have only one point of criticism, which is a lack of explicit referencesto the plates in the text. For instance, the text mentions that there arefour subspecies of the Little Penguin, three of which are hard todistinguish visually. The plates show all four subspecies. Unfortunately,I can see no differences at all between the three that are hard todistinguish. I suppose that the artist must have based himself on somesource to represent each of these three subspecies, but the captionscontain no information in this regard, and the main text does not clarifythis issue any further. However, this is but a minor criticism compared tothe merits of this excellent book, which I can recommend to everybodyseriously interested in penguins who can appreciate a scientif approach tothe subject!
I especially like the second part of the book, which is devoted to adetailed description of all 17 penguin species, including detailed mapsshowing their distribution. This part of the book is illustrated withcarefully drawn colour plates showing all species, including males andfemales if they differ significantly, and chicks. To a certain extent, itis a pity that all the other illustrations in the book areblack-and-white, but I presume this was necessary to keep this fairlyspecialised and thick book affordable.
I have only one point of criticism, which is a lack of explicit referencesto the plates in the text. For instance, the text mentions that there arefour subspecies of the Little Penguin, three of which are hard todistinguish visually. The plates show all four subspecies. Unfortunately,I can see no differences at all between the three that are hard todistinguish. I suppose that the artist must have based himself on somesource to represent each of these three subspecies, but the captionscontain no information in this regard, and the main text does not clarifythis issue any further. However, this is but a minor criticism compared tothe merits of this excellent book, which I can recommend to everybodyseriously interested in penguins who can appreciate a scientif approach tothe subject!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
The Mother of All Penguin Books
6 Jun 2007
Format:Hardcover
Excellent book, gives the reader a ultimate overview of our flightless friends that live in the Antartic, SubAnartic, Cold Temerate and even up to parts of Southern Africa, South America and Australia. Good luck finding the book though, I had to obtain a copy all the way from Australia just to add this to my Oxford Bird Families of the World Series.
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
