Jon Fjeldså's essay on Avian classification in flux gives a masterly overview of a subject that can cause as much consternation to birders as it does to professional ornithologists. [...] Fjeldså's next essay on The discovery of new bird species is equally gripping. [...] The following section is logically devoted to the 69 New bird species described since 1992 [and] type descriptions of the Fifteen new species of Amazonian birds.

And thus, this extraordinary twenty year odyssey through the avian world concludes. Or does it? The Special Volume is in many ways a transition volume. Later this year, Lynx will be publishing the two-volume HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. At the same time, the entire content of HBW, updated and with a huge amount of supporting material, has been made available online as the continuously updated HBW Alive.