Ocean Wanderers: Migratory Sea Birds of the World (by R.M. Lockley)

• 1974 edition,  168 pages
• Published by David & Charles (Holdings) Ltd, USA
• Hardcover with dust jacket, blue boards
• Good plus condition, some age wear, fading to dust jacket especially edges, dust jacket clipped lower right corner front flap, small twink out on free front end paper

Drawings by Robert Gillmor,  9 colour plates, 28 black and white photographs and 22 maps.  Index included.

This book describes the lives of these specialised flying machines, the birds which wander restlessly yet with purpose over the great oceans of the world, and as far as possible avoid the land:  ranging from the beautiful, noble albatrossess   - giant sailplaners of storm latitudes  - to the least and smallest of the ocean wanderers, the fragile-looking storm petrels which walk on the surface of the sea, and the dainty, elegant phalaropes:  both fly thousands of miles across the equator, and ride out the gales with no less success.

For all bird enthusiasts, this is a splendid and evocative book, full of beauty as well as information, photos, drawings, and maps.  

R.M. Lockley, famous naturalist and author, has studied sea birds all his life.  He discusses how they have adapted to their demanding environment, sketches their natural history and maps their distribution.  

There are chapters on their evolution, their navigational skills, how they share the resources of the oceans in a fascinating interlocking pattern, so that each survives in its special feeding and breeding zones without severe competition.