THE STRANGE WORLD OF BIRDS

Wakefield 1963.

Twelve chapters, 151 pages on the more unusual aspects of the world of birds. A passage from the Preface reads;

‘ This book sets out to look at just a few of the exciting things that lie waiting for anyone who wants to know more about the world of birds then he can get from bird-spotting alone. It doesn’t set out to be a hand-book for bird watchers, or a textbook on ornithology; there are books in plenty on both these topics. It may, at times, seem to concentrate too much on the quaint or the ‘stranger than fiction’. Yet it is the past and present oddities among birds that show us how little this incredible ancient family has changed since the remote days of prehistory, and how important is their place in the complicated pattern of nature, of which man himself is just a part.

My aim has been to introduce some people to, and remind others of, a little of the richness and variety to be found among the birds. I hope the book may tempt a few readers to go on to more serious study of the topics they find especially interesting. For them there are a number of suggestions for further reading at the end of the book.‘

Apart from having no dust jacket the book is clean and tightly bound and is illustrated with black and white photographs and some interesting illustrations by the author.