The plates are of a very high quality. All species, including a number of dis- 
tinct races, have been illustrated. Some racial variants have never been paint- 
ed previously. David Numey has done an excellent job in accurately depicting 
all the species with which I am familiar. However some species have a rather 
lifeless feel, perhaps reflecting a lack of field experience on the artists behalf. 
With a seemingly never ending supply of new titles appearing on the market 
and the inflated prices charged for books these days it is difficult, even for the 
more affluent among us, to continue finding the funds to keep up to date with 
each new publication. So, with only 27 species of woodpecker occurring in the 
Palearctic (and some of those only just!), those birders who do not regularly 
travel outside the Palearctic will probably not regard this book as an essential 
purchase. Nonetheless this excellent book is an authoritative piece of work on 
a fascinating group of birds that will doubtless find its way onto many birders' 
bookshelves throughout the world. I thoroughly recommend it. 
Chris Bradshaw 
Baumgart, W., Kasparek, M. & Stephan, B. (1995) Die Vdgel Syriens: eine Qber- 
sicht. Max Kasparek Verlag, Heidelberg, pp 124, price DM 28. 
At last! A concise but still relatively detailed introduction (in German) to the 
ornithology of this fascinating, yet little known Arab republic. This is the sec- 
ond of a series of annotated checklists covering Middle Eastern countries; 
Turkey has already appeared (see Bu//. 32:41 -42) and others are envisaged, cov- 
ering Jordan and Yemen. It is attractively designed; a scattering of black-and- 
white photographs of both birds and their habitats helping to relieve the text, 
and, for travelling birders, will fit very easily in the daypack. 
Introductory chapters address issues such as history of ornithological research, 
geography and climate, general characteristics of the Syrian avifauna, a discus- 
sion of status, threats and conservation. The latter includes details of 
Important Bird Areas. 
Of the books' 124 pages, 93 are given over to the systematic list, which 
describes the status and distribution of the 354 species the authors consider to 
have been reliably recorded in Syria. Of these 161 have bred (16 only in the 
past), while a further 33 plausibly do so. Latin, German and English names 
are given for all species (although Limosa limosa is the Black-tailed Godwit, not 
Black-winged) as are abbreviated status symbols; which are also translated 
into English in the introduction to the list. Species accounts vary from two 
lines for vagrants such as Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus, to nearly a 
page for better known and more obvious species like White Stork Ciconia cico- 
nia. For many species details remain scant, thus the authors include many 
observations which in time may prove unremarkable. Whereas the Turkey list 
was supported by a number of maps and figures illustrating migration timing. 
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