Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 6: Mousebirds to Hornbills

Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 6: Mousebirds to Hornbills, edited by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott, and Jordi Sargatal (Lynx Edicions/Bird Life International, 2001; $185)

This gorgeous sixth volume in a projected twelve-volume, folio-sized series (intended to be the definitive handbook of the world's 9,000-plus living species of birds) became, according to the editors, so massive that they decided to limit its scope to three orders of classification, encompassing twelve families: mousebirds, trogons, kingfishers, todies, motmots, bee-eaters, rollers, ground-rollers, cuckoo-roller, hoopoe, woodhoopoes, and hornbills. Each family is discussed in terms of morphology, habitat, voice, breeding, and many other aspects, and each species merits an extremely detailed entry. The photographs and paintings are spectacular. A multifaceted foreword on avian vocalization, drafted by the late Luis F. Baptista and completed by Donald E. Kroodsma, runs more than thirty pages. Already published in this splendid series are Ostrich to Ducks (vol. 1), New World Vultures to Guineafowl (vol. 2), Hoatzin to Auks (vol. 3), Sandgrouse to Cuckoos (vol. 4), and Barn Owls to Hummingbirds (vol. 5).

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