Synopsis This Handbook, part of a ten-volume series on South Asian birds, is an important landmark in Indian ornithology. It includes information on long-range migration and taxonomic changes, along with the existing life history information, accounts of behaviour, ecology, distribution, and migration records of practically every species of birds found not only on the Indian subcontinent but also in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. Written in a vigorous, animated style, with colour photographs of virtually every species listed, the Handbook provides brief yet rich factual material, compiled and presented in an encyclopaedic form by two of the world’s greatest ornithologists, Salim Ali and S. Dillon Ripley. The Handbook remains an indispensable source for the ornithologist and the lay birdwatcher.