Reviews 
Ramadan Bakig, A. and Khiyami Horani, H. (1992). Birds of Jordan. 
Arslan Ramadan Bakig, Amman: pp. 213; $25.00 (excl. mail service). 
Obtainable from Arslan Ramadan Bakig, PO Box 1871, Amman, Jordan. 
This bilingual (English/ Arabic) book presents colour photographs by 
Arslan Ramadan Bakig of 164 species of birds taken in Jordan, (the 
national listcomprises c.340 species). Anumber of species relatively rare 
in Jordan are included, such as Black Francolin, Oy^stercatcher, Syrian 
Woodpecker, Thick-billed Lark, and Hooded Wheatear. However, 
many common species are missing, such as Lesser Black-backed Gull, 
Cuckoo, all species of sw^ifts, African Rock Martin, Olivaceous Warbler 
and Rock Sparrow. 
This rather haphazard choice of species as well as a rather high proportion 
of blurred pictures (in spite of a generally passable printing quality) are 
somewhat unsatisfactory. The author might have improved the value of 
his book considerably by including the work of other photographers. 
Some of the photographs offered here simply are too badly defined for 
publication; others, altiiough blurred, are acceptable here for purposes of 
documentation (e.g. of Syrian Woodpecker and Thick-billed Lark). 
Collaborator Hala Khiyami Horani and advisers (e.g. Ramsis Lufti, Ian 
Andrews) helped to reduce mistakes in identification, but obviously 
such advice was not always heeded. In my opinion, the picture on p. 93 
shows a Wood Sandpiper not a Green Sandpiper, and the 'female 
Stonechat' on p. 156 is in fact a Redstart (male first winter)! I also doubt 
the identification of Herring and Common Gull (both pictures blurred), 
of Lanner (perhaps Saker?), of Lesser Short-toed Lark, and of the 'female 
Whinchat' (perhaps first record of Stonechat of subspecies maura ?). 
The very brief texts for each species on identification, habitat, food and 
breeding were obviously gleaned from standard textbooks. Under habitat, 
however, there are indications of the status of species in Jordan. These 
are mostly from Disi & Bouran (1987), a source which is incomplete and 
contains several errors (c.f. review in OSME Bull. 21). 
Although Ramadan refers to observations of his own, he never gives 
exact dates, either of rarer species (e.g. Black Francolin, Thick-billed 
Lark, Black-headed Bunting) or of those which the author (mostly 
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