Colorful, musical, graceful, easily observed--birds have always fascinated amateur and professional naturalists alike. This richly illustrated book tells the fascinating story of ornithology from ancient times to the present. Filled throughout with paintings, drawings, photographs, and diagrams, many of them in brilliant color, All about Birds is a fast-paced chronological account of the personalities and milestones that have shaped this most popular of sciences--from Aristotle, Audubon, and Darwin to Peterson and Sibley. These key figures and events are also documented in a unique twenty-page illustrated color timeline at the end of the book. Brief individual chapters cover antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. With its beautiful design and illustrations, and its concise and informative text, this lively book will delight anyone who loves birds.