I really think the publishers at Lynx need to re-evaluate their policy regarding the index in their FG-type books that they derive from HBW sources. The latest examples I have are Birds of Spain and the book dealt with here on the Indonesian Archipelago. In both books, the index lists all the birds purely by their alphabetic names, both scientific and common names. Thus, all the birds that have a "Little" set in front come together. In the Spain book that is Little Auk, Little Bunting, Little Bustard and so on. No way, however, to have an overview of all the buntings for example. It's OK for scientific names as long as those are all the same genus, like Larus or Lanius etc. But with today's tendency to change scientific names, even those ties fall apart. Thus, the Indonesia book no longer lists the Arctic Warbler as Phylloscopus borealis. It is now Seicercus borealis. But Yellow-browed Warbler is still Phylloscopus. So the ties that helped previously are falling apart even for the scientific names. In the end, any index provided like in these two books loses much of its function and helpfulness. One needs names listed under major headings such as parrot, woodpecker or whatever.
As an attempt of self-help, I have created a Quick-Find Index for this book that is more comprehensive than what I usually think makes sense. The fact that the Indonesia book is rather largeish helps in this case. It allows to have a longer list that still fits on the single page that I consider an essential limitation. Included are many names of even single species when these will be almost impossible to find quickly though the book index. As an example: Asian Fairy-bluebird can be easily found as long as one knows its prefix is Asian. But no way to find it under Fairy-bluebird. and the scientific genus Irena also is of no help here. Heinrichia, on the other hand, has the same name as its genus and is thus easily found in the index. The Shade-dweller, however, would have to be looked up under Bornean, and is thus well hidden in the book index. So I tried to include those species or groups that are hard to find via the book's index.
Some more examples: Minivets can only be found by going through the index pages. One lucks out, thanks to the Ashy Minivet that one encounters the group already on the first index page. In this group, the contents page up front is also of no help. The family is listed under Campephagidae (Cuckooshrikes and allies). The name Minivet is not there. So I tried to concentrate on those groups that are not easily found. I added others when I saw that there was space left, an example being Heleia. Those species have the same name as their generic name and thus show up easily in the index.
As always, this is still a list created for my own purposes and thus has some subjectivity. The Word file allows easy adaptation to your personal preferences, however. You need to cut it with only about a margin of 5 mm all around to make sure it fits on one of the empty pages of the book. I usually glue a copy up front as well as in the back. The back-page of the maps is a practical place for this index.
As an attempt of self-help, I have created a Quick-Find Index for this book that is more comprehensive than what I usually think makes sense. The fact that the Indonesia book is rather largeish helps in this case. It allows to have a longer list that still fits on the single page that I consider an essential limitation. Included are many names of even single species when these will be almost impossible to find quickly though the book index. As an example: Asian Fairy-bluebird can be easily found as long as one knows its prefix is Asian. But no way to find it under Fairy-bluebird. and the scientific genus Irena also is of no help here. Heinrichia, on the other hand, has the same name as its genus and is thus easily found in the index. The Shade-dweller, however, would have to be looked up under Bornean, and is thus well hidden in the book index. So I tried to include those species or groups that are hard to find via the book's index.
Some more examples: Minivets can only be found by going through the index pages. One lucks out, thanks to the Ashy Minivet that one encounters the group already on the first index page. In this group, the contents page up front is also of no help. The family is listed under Campephagidae (Cuckooshrikes and allies). The name Minivet is not there. So I tried to concentrate on those groups that are not easily found. I added others when I saw that there was space left, an example being Heleia. Those species have the same name as their generic name and thus show up easily in the index.
As always, this is still a list created for my own purposes and thus has some subjectivity. The Word file allows easy adaptation to your personal preferences, however. You need to cut it with only about a margin of 5 mm all around to make sure it fits on one of the empty pages of the book. I usually glue a copy up front as well as in the back. The back-page of the maps is a practical place for this index.
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