"Wetlands are one of the world's most endangered types of habitat. It is this environment, around the globe, that some of the most highly specialised families of birds depend on for their feeding and breeding behaviour. This book discusses all sixteen orders of wader and long-legged wading bird from all parts of the globe. The Charadrii are included: these are the 'waders' of Europe or 'shorebirds' of North America including snipes, oystercatchers, plovers, dotterels, sandpipers, avocets, stilts and phalaropes. Also included are the long-legged wading birds from the Ciconiiformes and Gruiformes, and herons and bitterns, storks, ibises and spoonbills, flamingos, cranes, and the limpkin and sun-bittern."--Book Jacket.