I just hope they've maintained the size-ratios to the birds on the re-arranged plates then it won't be so bad.....
I think they did the intelligent thing and arranged the passerines by island (you don't really need to know what the cuckooshrikes on Makira look like when you're on Grande Terre). The sizes look OK to me.
Of course, this book is a must-buy. Well ahead of what was available for the majority of the islands, lavishly illustrated (all those Island Thrushes!) and with good descriptions. I have already advertised it elsewhere, so I hope I can be a bit critical...
To my taste, the plates ranged from adequate (plates 4 or 14 don't really work) to pleasing (I think plate 76 is the highlight). The lively depiction of many passerines is enjoyable. The waders are also nice, but who'd look at those plates? Depicting some confusing chicks is a good choice, mixing ground dwellers with cormorants is an odd one. I'd rather have seen smaller depictions of the ducks, hahaha! (I must add that I like the artwork on those two plates).
I have the feeling some of the passerines are a tad dark (compared to
e.g. Pratt's plates in
Birds of Northern Melanesia, the picture of the Odedi [sadly that name has been sacrificed] in
Birds and Bird Lore of Bougainville and the North Solomons and my experience with Shining Flycatcher): especially the browns appear to have suffered this faith (then again, according to the photo the Bougainville Thicketbird really
is that dark).
The (on the one photo I have very obvious) blue-grey eyering of Vanikoro White-eye is under-represented in the picture and its posture is completely different (in the photo it is not hunched at all!)
On the taxonomy front, I am guessing that the lowland grassbird from the Bismarcks may actually be Tawny, not Papuan, but with the sound unknown it's anyone's guess.
Finally, the invention of new, even if more descriptive, names for some species (Paradise Drongo, Pink-legged Rail, Golden Masked Owl) appears counter-intuitive when you want to protect localised species.
Literature:
Dutson G, Birds of Melanesia. The Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuata and New Caledonia, 2011.
Mayr E, Diamond J, The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology, and Biogeography, 2001.
Doughty C, Day N, Plant A, Birds of the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia, 1999.
Hadden D, Birds and Bird Lore of Bougainville and the North Solomons, 2004.
Coates BJ, Peckover WS, Birds of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago: A Photographic Guide, 2001.