Book description
This impressively comprehensive study and review of the birds in
Scotland by Valerie Thom, editor of Scottish Birds and past-President of
the Scottish Ornithologists' Club, may be said to follow on where the
celebrated two volumes of The Birds of Scotland (1953), by Dr Baxter and
Miss Rintoul, left off. It does more than that, however, since not only
has there been a profound increase in ornithological coverage and data
(as reflected in the species accounts), there have also been great
changes in habitat and environment since the days of Baxter &
Rintoul. These aspects form the themes of the ten preliminary chapters
reviewing the Scottish scene today in terms of habitat, conservation,
birdwatching and the changes in species status and distribution. The
species accounts, the backbone of the book, review the period 1950-83
but include, where practicable, records of rarities and details of
counts up to the spring of 1985; there are also brief summaries of
earlier data based on the researches of Baxter & Rintoul. In all,
497 species are dealt with. The texts of major species accounts are
complemented by 173 distribution maps and many tables of relevant data,
and there are 129 species drawings by a team of artists under the
editorship of Donald Watson, who also contributes chapter head pieces
and other drawings. A section of photographs illustrates the varied
habitats typical of Scotland today. There are, further, appendices and
an extensive bibliography. The book is of great and obvious interest to
all birdwatchers in Scotland but it will be of special value, too, to
the many thousands of birdwatching visitors from elsewhere in these
islands and from countries abroad. The Scottish Ornithologists' Club,
for whom the book is published, and all whose records and researches
made the author's work possible, have reason to be proud of Valerie
Thom's achievement. The book's users will be indebted to them all for
this comprehensive and essential guide to birds in Scotland.
