The Herons of Europe Book

The Classification of Herons.
The Origin of Herons.
The General Appearance and Special Features of Herons.
Breeding Behavior and Biology.
Habitat, Resource Partitioning, and Species Diversity.
Feeding Behaviour.
The Food of Herons.
The Bittern Botaurus Stellaris.
The Little Bittern Ixobrychus Minutus.
The Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax.
The Squacco Heron Ardeola Ralloides.
The Cattle Egret Bubulcus Ibis.
The Worldwide Extension in the Range of the Cattle Egret.
The Grey Heron Ardea Cinerea.
The Purple Heron Ardea Purpurea.
The Little Egret Egretta Garzetta.
The Great White Egret Egretta Alba.
Protection of Herons in Europe.
References.
Index.

Although the majority of the world's Herons live in the tropics and subtropics, Europe is home to nine species, some large, some small, some colonial, some solitary breeders. Highly specialized birds, they exhibit many interesting differences in their behavior and ecology and are a favorite group for many ornithologists. Dr. Voisin begins her book with a general description of the family before going on to treat each species in more detail. The species accounts summarize such topics as field characters, distribution, population size, breeding, and feeding ecology and behavior. Numerous figures and tables are accompanied by fine drawings of behavior by P.L. Suiro and color and black and white pictures of each species by G. Brusewitz.