Waders of Southern Africa by Hockey, Phil (author), with Clare Douie and Andrew Barlow (illustrators)

(Cape Town: Struik Winchester, 1995) 0947430458. Phil Hockey passed away on the 24th of January, 2013. 4to; original blue boards, lettered in silver gilt on spine and upper cover; laminated pictorial dustwrapper and matching laminated pictorial slipcase; pp. 288, incl. index; lovely full-colour plates, with accompanying distribution maps, line drawings and life histories of each of the shorebirds considered. Generally, four pages are devoted to each of the species. Fine condition, in a partially sunned slipcase. "This beautifully produced book is the most authoritative and up-to-date compendium of readable information available on this marvellous group of birds. Hockey's easy style of writing and his enormous knowledge and enthusiasm combine to give the readership an unparalleled work of reference - a work geared to a public far beyond the academic or professional ornithologist. … Although, as Hockey says in his Introduction, 'this volume is far from being the final word on southern African waders', it will certainly be the definitive word on these delightful birds for many years to come. It is in any event a benchmark for any future work on waders on the African continent." - Gordon Maclean .