Robbins et al. Birds of North America.

Title Birds of North America: A Guide to Field Identification Author Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun & Herbert S. Zim Series Golden Guides Publisher Golden Press, New York Year 1966 ISBN 0-307-13656-6 (paperback) Illustrations Singer, Arthur (color drawings) Table of Contents Table of Contents (simultaneously an overview of the orders and families) Bibliography Bibliography Index Index of English and scientific names (simultaneously a checklist) Pages 340 Categories nature, birds, field guides, identification, North America, Golden, birdwatching Language American English (en-US)

From the Book Cover

A Golden Field Guide is a treasured tool, a fascinating and invaluable aid for the nature lover in action.
Because Golden Field Guides work. What you see in a Guide is exactly what you see in nature. You don't have to translate black-and-white sketches into the colors of the real thing or go flipping through the book to match up text and art. Each bird is captured in full color with descriptive text right there on the facing page. So you can identify a species quickly, easily, positively.
That's why enthusiastic amateurs as well as exacting professionals swear by Golden—finest in the field!

My Summary

This is the bird book I have used for the past 15 years while in North America. I prefer it to the much more written-about Peterson's because all the pertinent information is found on facing pages. When I bought my Golden, Peterson's had the color plates in one place, the descriptions in another and the distribution maps in a third. Meanwhile the pictures and descriptions are on facing pages, but I still have to keep my thumb there while I look for the corresponding map. In addition the Golden guide has sonagrams (again on the same page as the descriptions), which can be very useful to those who take the time to learn how to read them.
The scope is North America north of Mexico and includes all birds with at least five records in this century.
In Europe I use the German-language version of the European Golden bird guide written by Bertel Bruun and illustrated by Arthur Singer: Der Kosmos-Vogelführer.

See and/or order this title at Amazon.com:

• Hardcover, 360 pages, Golden Press, 1983
• Paperback, 360 pages, Golden Press, 1983

See and/or order this title at Amazon.co.uk:

• Hardcover, 360 pages, Golden Press, 1983

Other Golden Guides

• Zim, Herbert Spencer & Ira N. Gabrielson. Birds: A Guide to Familiar American Birds
• Zim, Herbert Spencer & Alexander C. Martin. Trees: A Guide to Familiar American Trees