Handbook
A reference work covering the avifauna of a particular geographical area, giving as much information as possible for each species (in contrast to a field guide). The standard work for the British Isles remains The Handbook of British Birds by H. F. Witherby and others, which was first published in 1938-41 and is often known simply as 'The Handbook'. This five-volume work, however, is now being replaced by its seven-volume successor, The Birds of the Western Palearctic, edited by Stanley Cramp, K. E. L. Simmons and others, of which two volumes had been published by 1980. The wide area covered by the new handbook reflects the increasingly international outlook of British ornithologists.From Peter Weaver's Birdwatcher's Dictionary
Copyright © 1981 by Peter Weaver