The experienced Arabian birdwatcher will be hard-pressed to select a favourite 
species from the wealth of photographs; each is so evocative of a time and a place 
in our collective memories. It is useful, though, to be able to see an Eastern Pied 
Wheatear alongside a Hume's and to contrast the sheen of their plumages. I 
doubt if anyone has had a finer view, let alone photo opportunity, of the famed 
intrusive White-collared Kingfisher Halcyon chloris of Khor Kalba, Fujaira. Well 
done Dave and Adrian, and best of birding in your new haunts (respectively 
North umbria and Hong Kong)! 
Stan Howe 
Kasparek, M. (1992). Die Vogel der Tiirkei. Max Kasparek Verlag, Heidelberg: 
pp.128; no price. ISBN 3-925064-12-5. 
This well-prepared and attractive booklet is the first of a new series of annotated 
guides to birds of countries in the Middle East. Three volumes to follow are for 
Jordan, Syria and Yemen. Although the book is in German, the species account 
which comprises its bulk is probably easy to understand for anyone familiar with 
annotated bird guides. 
The book is essentially an interim report rather than a definitive work on the birds 
of Turkey, acting as a tribute to all who provided records, and as a stimulus for 
them to continue. The resulting provisional systematic bird list is best compared 
with an update of the Bird Report 1970-1973 published by the Ornithological 
Society of Turkey in 1975. 
Almost half of the introductory 14 pages is dedicated to the four levelled 
classification of Turkey by Oguz Erol. This most consistent and practical system 
deserves a wider application. Another four pages cover the Important Bird Areas 
and the remainder consists of brief items such as subspecies and rarities, and why 
no proper references and sources are listed (which is unfortunate). 
Next comes the 114 page species list containing 441 species, 315 of which are 
breeders or probable breeders. Five species have become extinct this century. 
The proportion of rarities, 56 species with less than ten records each, is strikingly 
low but typical for a country with a relatively thin network of observers. 
For each species there are concise data on status, distribution and timing of 
passage with more cursory data on subjective quantitative assessments. Some 
species are dealt with more thoroughly. Descriptions never exceed 22 lines. For 
21 species the text is supported by maps and figures, illustrating issues like 
distribution, recoveries, migration profiles or a trend. The figures are updated 
versions of the author's earlier publications. 
Since the Bird Report 1970-1973, the list of Turkey has grown. Kasparek's new 
list, by contrast, does not reveal any major breakthrough in ornithological 
research. The enormous growth in the number of observers has not been 
matched by progress in knowledge about the Turkish avifauna. The kind of 
birdwatching intensified but largely remained the same. But there is one 
exception. Since 1987 the Turkish Society for the Protection of Nature (DHKD) 
has initiated or endorsed systematic and organised studies on ornithological 
41 
