Very British, very boring...and soon to be superseded

Goodwin's book "Crows of the world" is an authoritative, scientific reference work published in several editions. Unless I'm mistaken, I have the British Natural Museum 1986 edition. The book describes every known species of the crow family, over 100 all in all. The crow family (a.k.a. corvids) also include ravens, jackdaws, magpies, jays and nutcrackers. Since the book is British, the European species are described most extensively: Raven, Carrion Crow, Hooded Crow, Jackdaw, Rook and Jay. And, of course, the Magpie. The American Crow is given surprisingly short shrift, while the more exotic tropical species are treated even less extensively. Indeed, many of these are almost unknown. Thus, one island crow in Indonesia is only known from two dead specimens at a museum!

The major drawback with Goodwin's book is that it's almost all text, and very few pictures. Some species are illustrated by black-and-white drawings, others are illustrated by colour plates, but most aren't illustrated at all. In a book about birds, this is a problem!

As a complement to Goodwin's book, I therefore recommend buying "Crows and Jays: A Guide to the Crows, Jays and Magpies of the World" by Steve Madge and Hilary Burn. That book is almost the opposite of Goodwin's. It contains less text, but all corvid species are illustrated in full colour. It does feel strange to read one book, while looking at the pictures in another, but heck, natural scientists aren't exactly well-known for their publishing skills...

Hopefully, both books will be superseded when Lynx publishes volume 14 of their mega-encyclopaedia "Handbook of the Birds of the World", which is scheduled to include the corvids. And perhaps Oxford University Press will one day publish a volume on crows and their allies in their series "Bird Families of the World".

Until then, I guess we have to make do with Goodwin and Madge-Burn. 

Originally posted in 2008.