The introductory chapters for each of the nine families dealt with barn owls, typical owls, Oilbird, owletnightjars, frogmouths, potoos, nightjars, swifts, treeswifts and hummingbirds give a thorough overview dealing with systematics, morphology, habits, voice, food and feeding, breeding, movements, relationship with man, and status and conservation. It is sensible to separate so much information out from the species accounts, both to draw out the similarities between related birds and also to show the range of variation. There is much information here which is not duplicated in the species accounts. A read of these sections makes understanding taxonomic relationships that much easier. Taxonomic grey areas are addressed, but where there is debate about relationships, the different options are explained as well as current knowledge allows.
Reference is made to extinct species and to the fossil record.
So, for example, we learn that the earliest swift-like bird was called Primapus lacki and was found in Eocene deposits in England. The 760 pages are jam-packed with interesting facts such as this. It is the introductory chapters for the families which provide a home for the photographs, which are truly excellent throughout. It appears that the publisher has not left a stone unturned in the quest to find the very best. When you consider that the subject matter ranges from birds which are nocturnal to those that usually don t stay in one place for more than a nanosecond, this must have seemed a tall order, but the aim has been achieved.