Wrens, dippers and thrashers.

London: Christopher Helm/A & C Black, 2001.
Octavo, dustwrapper, 272 pp. 32 colour plates by Barry Kent Mackay, maps.

The first comprehensive guide to the world's 83 wrens, 5 dippers and 36 thrashers. all but one of the wrens are endemic to the new world, with the highest concentration of species in central America. All 224 species are illustrated and the text covers all aspects of identification, range, habitat, movement, status, geographical variation, voice, behaviour and breeding biology.
DUSTWRAPPER TEXT
This book is the first comprehensive guide to the world's 83 wrens, 5 dippers and 36 thrashers, covering these families in greater depth than in any previous single volume.
All but one of the wrens (Troglodytidae) are endemic to the New World, with the highest concentration of species in Central America. Several species are noted for remarkable behavioural traits such as antiphonal or duetting song patterns between pairs, breeding systems involving extended family groups, and the building of multiple nests. This family includes some of the world's finest songsters. The dippers (Cinclidae) are a unique family, adapted to exploit the environment of upland rivers and streams. Though lacking many of the usual morphological characters found in other aquatic foragers, dippers hunt almost exclusively underwater, swimming, diving and walking underwater in search of invertebrate prey. The thrashers or mimids (Mimidae) include mockingbirds, catbirds and tremblers. This family is endemic to the Americas and includes several beautiful and very popular garden birds, as well as a number of island species of highly restricted distribution. Many thrashers are accomplished mimics, and are noted for their intelligence and adaptability.
All 124 species of these three families are illustrated on 32 original colour plates, and the detailed text covers all aspects of each species' identification, range, habitat, movements, status, geographical variation, voice, behaviour and breeding biology.
Wrens, Dippers and Thrashers is an important addition to this highly acclaimed series of identification guides, and is set to become the standard reference work on these groups of birds.