The Stokes Essential Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America, Donald and Lillian Stokes, Little Brown & Co., soft cover, illustrated, 270 pages, $15.
This book is seriously mis-titled. How can a bird-identification book bill itself as "essential" when it contains information on only 254 of North America's over 800 bird species? This book is pretty much useless for a serious birder, and would be confusing at best in the hands of a beginner. It is a pocket-sized book, which unfortunately might make it tempting. Of course, the reason it fits in pockets is because it's small because it's woefully incomplete. The price is tempting, too, only $15, low in today's book market. But you know why the price is low. The Stokes have many books on the market, most of them competitive in style and content. I have no idea what they were thinking when this book was planned. Sixteen species of warbler? Eight species of sparrow? One grebe? C'mon!
