From a nightjar's strange churring song on an English heath, to a lapwing displaying over the machair in the Outer Hebrides, James Macdonald Lockhart writes about the eight different birds who he has spent most time with, and relays what he hears. Not all of the birds are songbirds, though each possesses its own distinctive music. As Lockhart suggests, the sounds that birds make become an introduction to their lives and the places they are found.

"[This book] is both joyful and mindful, a powerful argument for being still and listening."—Sunday Times (London)