658 
THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol 123. No. 3. September 2011 
14857-1. $45.00 (cloth).—There is magic in 
prowling around in the forest at night, listening 
to the myriad sounds of insects, frogs, mammals, 
and birds. One of the night’s great pleasures is 
tracking down these sounds to identify their 
source. While it is relatively easy to distinguish 
by sight the group to which a nocturnal bird 
belongs—owl, nightjar, frogmoulh. etc.—distin¬ 
guishing species within groups is usually difficult, 
especially at night, because their cryptic plumages 
are frequently similar. Cleere's book sets out to 
assist with the identification process. 
This book covers 135 nocturnal species in the 
Aegothelidae, owlet-nightjars (10 species) and the 
four families of the Caprimulgiformcs: Caprimul- 
gidae, nightjars, nighlhawks, whip-poor-wills, and 
Pauraque (100 species); Podargidae, frogmouths 
(17 species); Nyctibiidae, potoos (7 species); and 
Steatomithidae, Oilbird (I species). 
The heart and soul of this book are in its 
stunning photographs, all in color, and it is a 
bargain lor that alone. Every species is illustrated 
with photographs, 2-11 images/species, mostly 
taken in the field. Photographs of specimens arc 
used for those species for which there are no 
known photographs from life. Photograph cover¬ 
age includes adult males and females (if differ¬ 
ent). subspecies, and some juvenile plumages. 
Thus, we have a complete photograph album of 
every known species from each family. Most of 
the photographs are half page in size with some 
smaller and a fair number a full page. I normally 
prefer paintings to photographs for identification- 
oriented books, because a competent artist can 
capture the important field marks as well as the 
bird’s ‘jizz’ in a single painting, whereas a 
photograph can often obscure some or all of these 
things. However, the complex color patterns of 
each feather of these cryptic species, pose a huge 
challenge for an artist, and a large percentage of 
paintings of them are not satisfying. Further, the 
species involved usually rely on their crypticity to 
escape detection and. thus, often allow close 
approach and full frame photographs. The digital 
world with its lower light requirement and ease of 
operation has ushered in a whole new paradigm 
for bird photography, which is dramatically 
exhibited here. 
Species accounts take up the bulk of the book. 
2-8 pages/species. Each species account has one 
Dhnfo° f 'T i hc remainin S are devoted to 
Two lna P s adorn each text page- a 
small wor.d map with a b|ack rectang|e 
passing the range of the species; and a larger, i 
to nearly one half of a page, distribution ma 
indicating breeding and non-breeding ranges if tl 
bird is not a resident, as well as subspecies range 
The text of each species account is divided undi 
the following headings: genus (if the species i- 1 ‘ 
first in the genus). English name, scientific rum 
length, identification, main confusion Specie 
vocalizations, habitat, breeding, range, snuu: 
and 2009 1UCN Red List category. Tlie *ideiui 
fication’ section is brief, pointing out alien 
features, which is appropriate considering thi 
many photographs. 1 note the white on the out; 
tail feathers of both Jungle (Caprimulgu .t indim 
and Grey (C. jotaka) nightjars is subterminal / trcv 
do not have ‘white tips'), a useful field marl;. 71k 
‘main confusion species’ sections are brief, pody 
conceptualized, lacking in understanding of lb: 
difficulties of identifying these species at nigh! 
and are often not helpful. The ‘vocalizations 1 
sections are quite brief, poorly done and generally 
useless lor identification. The ‘status’ sectionsca- 
brief and, for the Asian species I know well, atv 
olten inaccurate, especially for frogmouths and 
lesser known nightjars, e.g.. most frogmouths ure 
common where they are found (rather than 
‘possibly not common’, etc.). 
All eight species of Caprimulgus nightjars that 
occur in continental India need to be mentioned in 
the ‘main confusion species’ sections of each 
other as potential problems. However, this was 
not even minimally attempted: the Grey arui 
Jungle nightjars are compared only to each other 
none of the other seven is compared to European 
Nightjar (C. europaeus) and vice versa—ditto f n 
Svke s (C. mahrattensisY, Large-tailed (C. " v 
crurus). and Jerdon’s (C. atripennis). which are 
compared only to each other; the single weed 
‘none’ is used in this section for both Indian iC. 
asiaticus) and Savanna (C qffinis). The fold 
reality is that plumages of all eight of t^ e?£ 
nightjars are quite similar and. while there art 
subtle differences, the differences take time a* 1 
study to master. Further, while four specie 
(European. Syke’s, Indian, and Savanna) can h- 
differentiated visually, it is unlikely that Grey and 
Jungle nightjars (as well as Large and Jerdon > 
can be differentiated visually from each other 
under most circumstances. 
The well illustrated introductory section in & 
pages covers: contents, foreword, introduction, 
distribution of the Caprimulgifornies, plumage 
and structure, general biology, taxonomy of lb. 1 
