If you want pigeons or chickens, you won't find them here; this intriguing guide puts the spotlight on 50 of the rarest birds in existence, species not seen for centuries or brought back from the brink of extinction—the Seychelles magpie-robin and the California condor, to name a few. Each chapter includes a detailed profile of an individual species, photographs or drawings, and a map, introducing such marvels as the ivory-billed woodpecker, the long-whiskered owlet, the hooded grebe, the regent honeyeater, the Philippine eagle, Australia's night parrot, the Galapagos Islands' Floreana mockingbird, and the astonishing pink-headed duck.