The Unfeathered Bird

I wish I’d had this book when I was five years old when my grandmother tried to tell me that the flamingos in the local waterfowl park had knees that bent backwards! The truth about knees, ankles and preen gland can be found in the first 30 pages or so. These cover what you might expect from a book on morphology, detailing the general skeletal and anatomical features of your average bird. But what sets this book apart for me is the remaining 250-odd pages that go beyond the generic to detail the form, function and evolution of different bird families, all illustrated with exquisitely detailed drawings that are the testament to many years of detailed study of birds, with and without flesh.

Many of the birds are shown in natural poses – like the Purple Swamphen munching a reed, or the Sparrowhawk grasping a Blue Tit. I’m sure these won’t be to everyone’s taste but even if you don’t find these natural sculptures appealing, the text is crammed with fascinating details, such as the different location of the ‘kink’ in heron and darter necks, the origins of tinamous and many more that I’ve yet to discover.

Book reviewed by Simon Gillings