Basics: 2001, hardcover, 272 pages, 32 color plates, 124 species, range maps

Three different families of birds are covered in this identification guide and reference book. It’s a good book, but is not quite as meaty or extensive in text and illustrations as some of the other books on families of birds. The odd mixture of bird families and the lesser information inside causes me to suspect a desire of putting out another bird-family book may have distracted from producing a more solid, complete reference on these families or, on just the wren family by itself.

The 32 color plates contain 5-15 illustrations each. The artwork is good, but I have minor disagreements with some of the colors. Some birds, such as the LeConte’s and Curve-billed Thrashers, look too gray, almost to the point of having no brown or tan. Many other birds seem to be printed too darkly. Also, the illustrations for the Curve-billed Thrasher don’t adequately display the subspecies. I also would like to have seen more illustrations included for many of the species. Only one drawing is provided for 41 of the 124 birds. In a welcome contrast, many plumages are shown for the House Wren complex and the Winter Wren. Alas, most of the Winter Wrens appear to be too dark.

The text ranges from 1-4 pages for each bird. Most of the coverage goes to identification, description, and geographical variations. Regarding the identification section, it is adequate but is typically no better than a localized field guide covering that particular bird. The variety of subspecies is addressed, giving brief descriptive and distributional notes for each. This coverage of subspecies is important for wrens such as the Marsh, House, and Winter. Additional text covers taxonomy, voice, habitat, habits, status, breeding, and food.

The range maps show good detail and include political boundaries for countries and states. However, the country boundaries can often be very faint and difficult to see. It would have also been helpful to distinguish the ranges of the various subspecies on the map.

This is a good reference book that should be added to your library of other family identification guides but, its quality is a notch below its counterparts. ( )