Fascinating bird facts to get your talons into

Birds Britannica

REFERENCE Mark Cocker and Richard Mabey

THERE are not many reference books I could happily read from cover to cover - but this is a welcome exception.

The publishers claim that Birds Britannica is "a bird book like no other"; and for once the hype is justified. In one weighty volume the authors have assembled an endlessly fascinating collection of stories, cultural references, and what can best be described as "pub facts" - the sort of thing two blokes in the Dog and Duck will tell each other in sentences beginning "I bet you never knew" For instance, did you know that 90 per cent of all the Manx shearwaters on the planet breed in Britain and Ireland? Yet they have almost died out on the island from which they get their name, the Isle of Man.

Or that our smallest bird, the goldcrest, is able to cross the North Sea, where in misty weather it often takes refuge on fishing boats as a result of which it gained the folk name "herring spink"? These, and hundreds of other fascinating snippets, can be gleaned from virtually every page. The book covers-about 350 species occurring more or less regularly in Britain.

The rarer visitors merit just a few paragraphs, while more culturally significant species may receive several pages - six in the case of the Red Grouse.

As in Richard Mabey's previous, and very popular, book Flora Britannica, the authors have trod the fine line between humanity and sentimentality, and produced a volume that will not only serve as a valuable reference for years to come, but will also entertain and enthral its readers.

The pendulum has finally swung away from the coldly objective (and rather dull) approach to writing about wildlife that held sway during the late 20th century; and back towards "nature writing" in the proper meaning of the phrase.

. Chatto, Pounds 35

(c)2005. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.