How this book works. Introduction: evolution; anatomy; life cycle; courtship and mating; nests and eggs; plumage; flight; feeding; song and calls; migration; western Palearctic; wetlands; estuaries and low-lying coasts; rocky coasts, islands and the open sea; the far north; northern mountains and moorlands; southern mountains and crags; lowland heath and Mediterranean scrub; farmland and grassland; forest and woodland; gardens, parks and towns; watching birds; conservation. Species guide: divers and grebes; petrels and shearwaters; gannets, cormorants and pelicans; bitterns and herons; storks; flamingos; wildfowl; birds of prey; gamebirds; rails, crakes and coots; cranes and bustards; waders; skuas, gulls and terns; auks; pigeons and doves; cuckoos; owls; nightjars; swifts; kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers and hoopoe; woodpeckers and wryneck; larks; martins and swallows; pipits and wagtails; wrens, dippers, waxwings and accentors; chats and thrushes; warblers and allies; flycatchers; tits and allies; nuthatches, wallcreeper and treecreepers; shrikes; orioles; crows; starlings; sparrows; finches; buntings; rare species; vagrants.