The landscape of Britain has been irreversibly changed over the last century. Modern agriculture, urban expansion, industry and transport have all left their mark, altering the face of the countryside forever. Shifting with the changing scene, the fortunes of Britain and Ireland's bird populations have fluctuated dramatically over the years. As current farming practices have evolved, the natural habitats and breeding patterns of many species have been disrupted. Urban and industrial growth has brought with it the pressures of new land use, pesticides, pollution and human interference. The activities of sportsmen, collectors and farmers have also taken their toll over the years. The new Poyser title The Historical Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1875-1900 is a fascinating book resulting form years of meticulous research by the author, Simon Holloway, who provides an absorbing account of the distribution changes of Britain and Ireland's birds over the last quarter of a century. Large colour distribution maps and their accompanying text paint a species-by-species picture of a period which completely transformed the landscape of this country. It is, says Natural World magazine, "a classic case of 'why did no one write this book before?'...The experienced birder, using a knowledge of species requirements, can only marvel at what the long-vanished landscapes were then like." Birdwatch praises Simon Holloway's achievement, saying: "This book brings together so much information from disparate sources, and its status maps present such a clear picture of our late Victorian avifauna, that it should take its place beside the BTO atlases on the bookshelf." While Birdwatching adds: "If you are interested in the historical side of birds and their populations this book will be an endless source of fascination." As with all Poyser publications, the attention to detail, the lovingly produced illustrations and the sheer breadth of knowledge demonstrated by the autho

This is an ornithological bibliography for the counties of England, Wales, and Scotland and for the Isle of Man. It includes all known books, pamphlets and papers which contain substantial studies of the birds of local areas, from a county down to a back garden or a gravel pit. Each county has an introduction on its boundaries and the history of its ornithology. There has been no comprehensive national publication of this kind since Mullens, Swann and Jourdain's Geographical Bibliography in 1920. The volume also provides a detailed record of the many county and local bird reports and of the ever-increasing number of area surveys produced by statutory and voluntary bodies. The material is arranged by the pre-1974 counties and takes the record up to 1995. There are maps to show the many changes in county boundaries since 1800.The book will be a standard reference work for libraries and collectors, and for anyone interested in the rich and diverse development of local ornithology in its homeland.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.

The first comprehensive avifauna for the London area ever published covering the status, distribution and history of every species on the regional list in rich detail. The parks, reservoirs, rooftops and gardens of London – here defined as the area within 20 miles of St Paul's Cathedral – have a surprisingly rich avifauna, including a healthy population of one of Britain's rarest breeders, the Black Redstart. The region also has a remarkable list of rarities – in recent years Canary Wharf has proven to be a magnet for vagrants, while one of the very few British records of Tengmalm's Owl hails from Plaistow – an unfortunate bird stoned to death by local urchins in 1877. Some species, like the Peregrine Falcon, Black-headed Gull and Ring-necked Parakeet, have seen their fortunes soar over recent decades; others, such as House Sparrow, have suffered a population collapse. While as recently as a century ago, the London area had breeding populations of birds such as Wryneck and Red-backed Shrike, which are now nationally extinct. The County Avifauna series provides detailed information on the range and status of bird species at county level.

As heard on NPR's This American Life “Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” —Christian Science Monitor A rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for readers of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief. On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins—some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them—and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.