Sections on 'Wetlands of International Importance and the Ramsar Convention' 
and 'Reliability of the Data' seem worth remarking upon. The site lists provide 
evidence from which potentially productive birding sites may be selected; 
many, however, will be inaccessible to visitors. The aim of providing an up- 
to-date and informative tool for conservation decision making is ably fulfilled 
by this publication. 
Rod Martins 
Birds of the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. By G Bundy, R J Connor 
and CJO Harrison. H F and G Witherby in association with Aramco 
1989. 224 pages, 2 maps and 158 colour photographs. £35. 
The eastern province of Saudi Arabia extends from the border of Kuwait in the 
north for some 1,200 km into the sands of the Rub'al-Khali (The Empty 
Quarter) in the south; and from the Arabian Gulf in the east, westwards across 
low desert plains for some 150 km, to the high dunes of ad Dahna. Until the 
late 1960s, the avifauna was little studied; birds were collected by the explorers 
Cheesman (1921 and 1923-4), Philby (1932 and 1938) and Ripley and 
Meinertzhagen paid short visits to the province in 1950. Since then, the oil- 
based economy of the Kingdom has prospered; and with it have come 
expatriot birdwatchers. Their contributions are now represented by this 
commendable work. 
The first third of the book sets the scene for the systematic list: there are 
chapters on physical description, climate and vegetation. Then follows a 
chapter on the origins of eastern province birds, commencing in the Miocene 
period. This is a significant contribution to Arabian ornithology not, at present, 
likely to be found elsewhere. The remaining introductory chapters fully treat 
faunal subdivisions, birds and biotopes (including sections on adaptations to 
aridity and migration), and man and birds. 
The bulk of the work consists of an annotated systematic list of 341 species. The 
book is not intended to be a field guide but here, at the start of most family 
sections, the authors have written a summary highlighting points of identification 
and typical habitat; this is very useful. Periods of passage, details of breeding, 
dates and locations, are all dealt with succinctly. The student of migration 
systems will find much here of interest: possibly several hundred Corncrakes 
Crex crex in grass crops deep in the autumn desert; Terek Sandpipers Xaius 
dnereus in good numbers on inland wetlands and irrigated fields, surely an 
indication that they cross the Arabian Peninsula. 
The work concludes with appendices which include a systematic list; fine for 
quick reference, but rather redundant as all species have already been dealt 
with comprehensively. Next, and more useful, comes an appendix on 127 
migrant species comparing their numbers in spring and autumn. The third 
appendix gives co-ordinates of locations mentioned in the text which may be 
plotted onto the rather bare maps. As some of these locations may be no more 
than a large circular field of alfalfa in the middle of the desert, their omission 
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