The Book
The book has cxli + 903 pages. Its Foreword (by Karel H Voous) and Preface (by Goetz Rheinwald and Jeremy Greenwood) are followed by an English introduction and shorter introductions in Czech, German, Spanish, French, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Russian and Swedish; indexes of bird names, in the same languages, are also included, at the end of the book. The introductions are followed by sections detailing the history of the European Ornithological Atlas project and the Evolution and History of the European Bird Fauna, and a section listing national and major regional published bird atlases.
The bulk of the book (772 pages) consists of species accounts. All birds with established breeding populations within Europe are covered in a single-page or two-page account which includes a map of breeding distribution, histograms showing those countries with the largest breeding populations, and a species text. Seventeen further species for which some breeding behaviour has been observed within the region are covered more briefly. Some species distributions are shown on maps of the whole survey area, but for those with more restricted distributions, base maps showing only a relevant subdivision are shown.
The book concludes with sections on the Conservation Status of Europe's Birds, a list of species with threat statuses, a set of derived maps depicting overall species richness and richness of threatened species, and a 65-page references section.
The book's dustjacket is illustrated by bird artist David Nurney - the front cover shows a Common Kingfisher (with a map of its distribution), while a European Bee-eater is depicted on the spine.
Read more about this topic: The EBCC Atlas Of European Breeding Birds
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