Under The Microscope

THE REED FIELD GUIDE TO NEW ZEALAND WILDLIFE, by Geoff Moon; Reed Books, 1994; 192 pages, $39.95

This would be a great book to give a budding naturalist or to an overseas visitor with an interest in our country's wildlife, but don't forget to keep a copy yourself.

I've admired Geoff Moon's excellent photography for many years, and it's a pleasure to find that he can keep as crisp a focus and cover a subject just as clearly in prose. In his appendix on photographic wildlife, Moon mentions that all his illustrations were taken in the wild, an approach which serves to put these creatures in context. Moon has also included non-native wildlife, such as stoats and wasps, and writes of the effects these imports have had on the local ecology. It helps provide a completeness to this guide that is often lacking in the more specialised books.

He's chosen to divide the country into six basic habitats, rather than specific locales, such as forest, open country and wetlands. Such an approach may make it a little difficult to use this book as a "field guide" per se, but if you're planning on doing a bit of tramping or even a drive through the country, it's a book that would fit nicely into pack or glovebox.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.