The second of a two-volume set, this book covers the passerine avifauna of Singapore, peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand and the tip of Tenasserim (Burma), together with associated island archipelagos. This region of high biodiversity is home to a rich resident avifauna, which is joined in season by a host of migrants from northern Asia, creating a fascinating faunal mix. Most of the region's bird species, and nearly all of its many endemics, reside in tropical forest habitats. Until surprisingly recently, most of the area was cloaked by these forests, but one of the tropical world's fastest rates of agricultural conversion has swept all but a fraction of the lowland forests from their former range.

Nearly a decade after the publication of the first volume, Volume 2 proves itself to be worth the long wait. The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula provides the most complete summary of fieldwork and other research on the birds of the region ever written. During his 30- year residence in the Peninsula, David Wells acquired an unrivalled understanding of its birds, which he brings in full measure to each of these superb volumes. All species of the region are treated in detail, with coverage of systematics, distribution, identification and biometrics, voice, plumage and moult, variation, status and population, habitats and ecology, feeding, social behavior, breeding biology, and conservation, complete with accurate distribution maps. The species treatments draw on a full range of recent field and museum research, together with much previously unpublished and little-circulated data from local compilers and the personal records of many enthusiasts.

The expert text is accompanied by 55 color plates by John Gale, Dana Gardner, Kamol Komolphalin, and Brian Small that illustrate almost all of the species covered in the text, and provide a unique collection of portraits by a team of internationally renowned artists. The artwork is very nice, and the large illustrations allow for beautiful detail.

A huge bibliography/reference section directs the user to useful resources, and indices of Scientific, English, Romanized Thai, and Malay species names make it easy to find the species for which you are looking.

Weighing in at just over 6 pounds, 3 ounces, this book is not one to carry into the field, but serves as an invaluable introductory text which describes the region and its conservation crisis.

Together volumes 1 and 2 are the most complete modern summary of the birds found in the Thai-Malay peninsula.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Wells was born in Sussex, England, into a family raised on natural history and with a special interest in Asia. Birds became a main enthusiasm during his school years, and on leaving university he chose to study them in the tropics. In 1961, he moved to Malaya to study munias for his doctorate. There he assisted with various ringing programs, and helped found and edit the Malayan Nature Society's Bird Report - for 25 years the main repository of records from peninsular Malaysia.

His personal research interests in the region have included sustained, fixed-site ringing studies in lowland rainforest; migration and the biology of wintering migrants, especially in areas of tropical forest; and the biology of the region's shorebirds. Over the years, David has made many exploratory trips in the region, including journeys to Mts Benom and Lawit in the peninsula, Mulu in Sarawak, and Ulu Temburong in Brunei.

A long-time trustee of WWF Malaysia and a council member of the Malayan Nature Society, David has a long-standing commitment to wildlife conservation and related environmental issues on the Peninsula. He was co-author of the fifth and final volume of The Birds of the Malaya Peninsula, the last great work on the region's avifauna. More than 30 years later, the two volumes of The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula are a magnificent successor, and will be regarded as the definitive work on this divers avifauna.

ALSO AVAILABLE:

The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume I: The Non- Passerine Birds of Southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Academic Press/Princeton University Press, 1999.

How to order