This guide to the birds of New Zealand aims to help the user to identify wild birds seen anywhere in the New Zealand region, and also provides the reader with a brief and informative summary of what is known about each species. The first section of the book is an identification guide; on the page opposite the colour plate is a distribution map for those species breeding in New Zealand, which shows plumage and behavioural details that should help identify the species, sex and/or age of the bird you see in the field. The distribution maps show where species breeding in New Zealand may be found in suitable habitat. Maps for vagrants, stragglers and non-native seabirds, and for migratory waders (which can turn up in any estuary around the coast) are given in the second part of the book which gives more details on the distribution and ecology of each species.