The far-famed New Naturalist Library published by Collins (now HarperCollins) approaches its 50th birthday. As it happens, the Library has also reached its 100th book (if you count the 22 monographs), with the publication last year of Larks, Pipits and Wagtails, The Soil, and the long-delayed Freshwater Fishes. This is now perhaps the most long-running and significant natural history series in the world, with no obvious counterparts overseas.