Collins Field Guide - Mammals of Britain and Europe

by David Macdonald & Priscilla Barrett,

HarperCollins, London, 1993.
Hardcover, ISBN 0 00 219779 0, 130mm x 200mm, 312 pages

A lot can change in 10 years, the distribution of the Golden Jackal for example is likely to have expanded in Europe since 1993 while the ranges of some other mammals are likely to have been reduced, and this volume is probably due an updated edition. Having said that, it is, despite the intervening years, still an excellent field guide and one that belongs on the shelves and in the bags of all those Europeans interested in their natural heritage.

Among the strengths of the book are the excellent illustrations. Sixty-four colour plates are grouped together in the middle of the book with each species represented accurately in colour, including the variation between the sexes, pelage differences in summer and winter and the appearance of the young. In addition to this, and alongside the respective species, skulls, tracks, dung, feeding sign, den, nests and habitat are illustrated in black and white. Opposite each plate is a brief description of the diagnostic features of each species. These features allow accurate identification that is supplemented in the text with drawings of typical or unique behaviour. The text itself is more comprehensive than the average field guide and for the better known or economically important species, such as the Red Fox and Eurasian Badger or the introduced Brown Rat, runs to several pages. Lesser-known species such as the Appenine Shrew merit less than half a page. Together with a distribution map, each species entry contains information under the following headings: name (alternative names and origin of scientific name); status; recognition (key anatomical and behavioural features useful in identification); habitat; habits (food, home range, social structure, communication); breeding (season, gestation, litter size, development of young); life span; measurements; general (additional information such as population trends or threats).

The glossary is one of the most comprehensive I have seen in a book of this nature and the bibliography, although not providing an exhaustive list of papers used in the text, provides great guidelines for further reading on all the families from the Carnivora to the Rodentia. As mentioned above, all Europeans interested in nature should own a copy of this book, but any ‘nature tourist' visiting the continent or just interested in the 200 species of terrestrial and aquatic mammals found in Europe should find this to be a useful addition to their bookshelves.

-Chris Roche-

Posted: Mammals by CC Africa, Date: 22 November 2006