Birds on film

Photographic field guides may never be as satisfactory as those illustrated
with paintings, but even so, A Photographic Guide to Birds of Namibia, by Ian
and Jackie Sinclair (C. Struik, Cape Town, distributed by New Holland,
£7.99, ISBN 1 86825 730 4) has considerable appeal because of its
compact dimensions and the quality of its photographs. Some 257 species are
illustrated and each photograph is accompanied by a concise text and a
distribution map. I missed seeing the endemic Herero chat during my only visit
to Namibia, so was interested that the Sinclairs regard it as “uncommon and
thinly distributed”, though they confirm that I had been looking in the right
places.