This text uses colour photographs to identify more than 900 species of birds known to occur from Antarctica to the Zambezi River. The book is divided into more than 150 plates, each grouping similar birds which are often difficult to distinguish in the field. Comparative descriptions are given, drawing attention to those diagnostic or distinctive characters that make field identification easy. For each species the scientific and English and Africaans common names, length, habitat and call is given. Relative abundance within the region is indicated and whether the species is endemic or not, while maps show where the birds are likely to be found.