Dr J.T.R. Sharrock is uniquely placed to write about the rare birds of Britain and Ireland.

He is a member of all three bodies which adjudicate on such records - honorary secretary of the British Ornithologists'' Union''s Records Committee and a member of both the British Birds Rarities Committee and the Irish Records Panel. He is already the author of a companion book which deals with a selection of the commoner rarities, Scarce Migrant Birds in Britain and Ireland.

In this new, much fuller book the enormous task of collation of over 8000 records and their visual display as maps and histograms was carried out by Mrs E. M. Sharrock. The textual and visual analysis deals with 221 different species. Between them, the authors present a complete picture of rare birds in Britain and Ireland:

HOW MANY are seen?

WHEN do they occur?

HOW regularly do they come?

WHERE are they seen?

There are line drawings of all 221 species by well-known bird artists: Robert Gillmor, P. J. Grant, R. A. Richardson, D. I. M. Wallace and lan Willis. Jacket design by Robert Gillmor.