Written by one Europe's leading ornithologists and illustrated by two of the world's finest bird illustrators - Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom (with a translation by David Christie). Covering Britain and Europe, the book provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of year, with detailed text on size, habitat, range, identification and voice.
Accompanying every species entry is a distribution map and colour illustrations (over 3500 in all) to show the species in all the major plumages (male, female, immature, in flight, at rest, feeding). The book is fully integrated, so that all this information appears on one spread, the ideal structure for use in the field. Each group of birds has an introduction, which covers the major problems involved in identifying or seeing them: how to organise a sea watching trip, how to separate birds of prey in flight, which duck hybrids can be confused with which species etc.
The second edition will have expanded text and additional colour illustrations.

本书描述了1329种鸟，每种配有彩色绘图和分布图，另描述了几百种亚种。分布图显示每种鸟在中国及邻近国家和地区夏候、冬候及居留期的分布。
书中的文字简介提供极有帮助的背景知识及信息，包括中国鸟类及保护状况，并介绍了中国的重要观鸟地点和时间。附录中还提供了中国保护及濒危种类、中国特有鸟种类和中国鸟类协会的名录。
对中国鸟类的认知仍欠完整的原因之一就是缺少针对这一地区的野外指南，以致直到最近，中国的鸟类学家还只是依靠检索表、名录以及黑白素描图在工作，仍没有一本完整的、依据当代分类学系统，并附彩色全图的野外手册。本手册下是试图填补这一空白，且以中、英两种语言文字分别出版。