Guy Dutson is an ornithologist and tour-leader, and is the world's leading authority on the birds of the south-west Pacific, a region in which he has described or rediscovered several species. He has led expeditions to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, in the course of which he rediscovered the Superb Pitta on Manus. Expeditions to Indonesia and the Philippines led to the rediscovery of the Tanahjampea Monarch and the find for which he is perhaps best known, the Cebu Flowerpecker. In 2008 Dutson described a new species, the Vanikoro White-eye.

This new Helm Field Guide covers the species-rich Melanesia region of the south-west Pacific, from New Caledonia and the Solomons through the Bismarcks to Vanuatu, an increasingly popular destination for tours and travellers and one that has never before had complete field-guide coverage. The cover star is the Kagu, the region's most iconic bird species and a highly sought-after endemic of New Caledonia.

Superb colour plates illustrate the 650 species that occur in the region, allied with concise identification text and a series of distribution colour bars.

For anyone travelling to this far-flung Pacific region, this book is indispensable.

The perfect guide to the birds of Melanesia - New Caledonia, the Solomons, the Bismarcks and Vanuatu