This is the essential companion for the keen birdwatcher. Together with the volume on non-passerines, to be published in 2006, this book covers all the perching birds of the Palearctic, a zoographical area running from the British Isles eastwards to Japan, with its southern border marked by the Sahara and middle Eastern deserts, and the Himalayas. It covers the whole of the Russian Arctic, China, Japan and the whole of Europe - the most popular birdwatching area in the world.