Lords of The Air: The Smithsonian Book of Birds

1989, oversize hardcover edition, Bound in full purple cloth, stamped on the spine in silver. 288 pages, filled with remarkable paintings, full-color illustrations, maps, etc. Co-written by a magazine editor and an ornithologist. Here are absorbing details on the origins of birds, their flight patterns, their migrations, the way they communicate, and the unique challenges ahead for all bird life.