This field guide is the only work of its kind to use full-colour photographs to identify the more than 900 species 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. Facing each plate is a succinct, comparative description 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 a two-colour map shows where the bird is likely to be found.