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Threatened Birds of the World by BirdLife International, Lynx Editions, 拢70, ISBN 0946888396

BOOKS on threatened wildlife generally make gloomy reading, but not this handsome tome from BirdLife International, superbly produced by Spanish publisher Lynx, and weighing in at a hefty 3.5 kilograms. Instead of inducing resigned passivity in face of disaster, this book is an inspiration. It will make people get out and fight to save the world鈥檚 endangered birds and their habitats.

Why? Because it shows so clearly and so beautifully what we will lose if we let treasures such as Spix鈥檚 Macaw and the wandering albatross follow the dodo and the great auk into extinction. One in eight of all bird species runs a real risk of becoming extinct during this century.

Threatened Birds of the World not only makes a brilliant job of highlighting their plight, but gives a glimmer of hope for their future. Targets are clearly set out for each species, providing something for governments, conservation bodies or even individual ornithologists to aim at. For the critically threatened northern bald ibis, for example, these include protecting key breeding and roosting sites, research into feeding and breeding biology, and exploring the possibility of reintroducing captive birds into previously occupied sites.

All the globally threatened species are given the same comprehensive treatment: a half-page that includes the bird鈥檚 portrait and a map of its world distribution. It also details its range and population, ecology and threats to its survival. Interestingly, it doesn鈥檛 stop there: you鈥檒l also find a huge number of birds on the brink of the threatened category-and the all too few species we don鈥檛 have to worry about yet.