This guide brings together, for the first time in single volume, a comprehensive review of all the world's pheasants, partridges, quails, grouse, turkeys, guineafowl, buttonquails, sandgrouse, and the enigmatic Plains-wanderer - over 250 species in all.

The group includes some of the world's most familiar and beautiful birds, such as Indian Peafowl and the stunning tragopans, as well as some of the rarest and most threatened. Some survive in fragments of over-exploited habitats, whilst others are now so familiar in domestication that it is difficult to imagine that they had any wild ancestors at all.

As with other volumes in the award-winning Helm Identification Guide series, this book concentrates on identification and distribution, but also highlights conversation issues where relevant. Each species is treated in detail, reflecting the extensive knowledge of both authors. The 72 colour plates, by leading bird illustrators, show male, female, juvenile and subspecies plumages, and form the finest set of illustrations of these birds to date. There is also a colour distribution map for each species.

Pheasants, Partridges & Grouse is a welcome addition to the Helm Identification Guide series, more importantly, a landmark volume in the literature of this attractive and vulnerable group of birds.

Steve Madge has travelled extensively as a bird-tour guide over the past 20 years, gaining much field experience of the species covered in this guide, most notably in the Himalayan region and throughout Africa and Australia. He is a former member of the British Birds Rarities Committee and has contributed many seminal articles on bird identification to journals around the world. He has already written two guides in the Helm Identification Guide series - Wildfowl, and Crows and Jays, and is co-author of The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic.

Phil McGowan gained his doctorate in 1992, studying the social organisation of Malaysian Peacock Pheasants. He has travelled widely in Asia, and was lead compiler of the World Pheasant Association's action plans for pheasants; partridges, quail, francolins, snowcock and guineafowl; and megapodes, all published by IUCN in 1995. He has recently overseen the review of all three action plans for the period 2000-2004, and is currently co-investigator on research into the ecology of the Western Tragopan in northwest India.

Norman Arlott is one of Britain's most experienced wildlife artists. He has twice been British Birds 'Bird Illustrator of the Year', and his work has appeared in many prestigious ornithology books over the past 20 years.

Robin Budden is a freelance artist, having first studied technical illustration and then taught scientific illustration at Southampton Institute. His work has appeared in three books and numerous magazines.

Daniel Cole has emerged as one of the best 'new' bird illustrators over the past few years. He painted a number of plates for Helm's seminal Birds of the Indian Subcontinent, and his plates in this guide reach a new level of excellence.

John Cox won British Birds 'Bird Illustrator of the Year' in 1989, and is now a freelance wildlife artist. His illustrations have appeared in calendars, magazines and books such as Pigeons and Doves (Pica Press), Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Helm), and Handbook of the Birds of the World (Lynx).

Carl D'Silva is India's leading wildlife artist. He painted many of the plates for Helm's Birds of the Indian Continent, and is currently working on the illustrations for a guide to the Eastern Palearctic.

Kim Franklin has a degree in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town. His work has appeared in a number of books including Birds of the Western Palearctic (OUP), Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Helm), the award-winning Parrots (Pica Press), and Raptors of the World (Helm).

David Mead is a freelance artist and illustrator. He has contributed to a wide range of books and periodicals. He exhibits regularly and is noted for his meticulous attention to detail. He co-illustrated Raptors of the World (Helm).