Birds of Burma

Mystical Burma (Myanmar) is hidden inside the pages of this classic book, now re-issued and updated by the late author, B.E. Smythies. Fewer than a score of important papers has appeared on Burmese birds since 1945, but birdwatchers have continued to add a trickle of new species to the list. These findings have been fully incorporated into the new edition. New taxonomic work on groups such as bushlarks and warblers has helped to push the total of birds recorded in Burma to virtually one thousand – amongst the richest in the world for a country of this size. The plates for this edition have been re-photographed from the original paintings, which survive after one of the most dramatic escape stories in ornithological history. These paintings help to document the changing birdlife described in the text, from the decline of the great waterbird colonies, of pelicans and cormorants, to the new wave of records produced by tourism and birdwatching today.

31 coloured plates from paintings by Lieut. Commander A.M. Hughes R.N. and a map.