Reviews 
Nightingale, T. & Hill, M. (1993) Birds of Bahrain. Immel Publishing 
Ltd, London, pp 283 price £45 
For those of us who enthuse over Middle Eastern ornithology this 
publication represents another landmark in the somewhat sparse 
range of literature available for the region. Although the large size and 
price of the Birds of Bahrain may initially be off-putting - look closer. 
The whole book is lavishly illustrated with a superb collection of 
colour photographs many of which capture truly the hot/humid, 
migrant-laden air of this, the smallest Gulf State. In particular the pic- 
ture of the Grey Hypocolius coming into roost brings back rich memo- 
ries of my occasional birding trips to Bahrain. There are very few 
places in the world where one can witness this much sought-after 
Middle Eastern speciality in such numbers. 
The book does not delve into bird identification (we'll all still need a 
copy of Hollom et al. for this) but focuses on the status and distribu- 
tion of all species recorded in Bahrain. These are thoroughly covered 
in chapters five (Migrants), nine (The Breeding Birds) and ten (The 
Systematic List) the latter including breeding, migrant and wintering 
species in a final list. In addition the authors describe the range of bio- 
geographical features found on the group of islands, its ornithologists 
(past and present), and give the reader a review of Bahrain's top bird- 
ing sites. It is a pity that some of the information is not more graphi- 
cally displayed (migration charts and distribution maps for each 
species for example) however this minor point detracts little from this 
distinguished book. Those lucky enough to have seen the authors 
speak at last years' OSME summer meeting will appreciate the work 
that went into this publication. 
Rob Morris 
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