In geographical terms, Liberia is still regarded as one of the least known areas of Africa. An inventory of its birds was only undertaken for the first time in the 1960s and 1970s. Liberia has the most extensive area of rainforest within the Upper Guinea region of West Africa. In 1980, half the country was covered by primary forest and -significant areas of lowland rainforest were only first surveyed after 1981. This book is the result of 15 years of research by the author and includes a complete checklist of the birds of the region. It contains distribution maps for 400 species as well as a wealth of other ornithological information. Fresh insights are given into the impact of forest destruction on the distribution of species. There is also new information on the movement of diurnal migrants and the numbers and ecology of migrant Palearctic and Afrotropical species. Of particular interest are the recently -discovered endemic species in the region of Mt. Nimba which straddles the border of Guinea and the Ivory Coast. This book adds considerably to our knowledge of West African birds and will be regarded as a model for future studies of the area.

This book is the result of 15 years of research by the author and includes a complete checklist of the birds of the region. It contains distribution maps for 400 species as well as a wealth of other ornithological information. Fresh insights are given into the impact of forest destruction on the distribution of species. There is also new information on the movement of diurnal migrants and the numbers and ecology of migrant Palearctic and Afrotropical species. Of particular interest are the recently discovered endemic species in the region of Mt. Nimba which straddles the border of Guinea and the Ivory Coast.

Liberia was a colony for freed and freeborn African Americans for twenty-five years before becoming the first republic on the African continent in 1847. Today, Liberia is recovering from over twenty years of violence, which include seven years of civil war (1989-1996). From depleted iron ore mines to enviable diamond reserves, from indiscriminate logging to the world's largest rubber plantation, from the shrieking pepper bird to the docile pygmy hippopotamus, this book is a spirited investigation of the sharp contrasts that define the Liberian land and its people. Book jacket.