Editing Field guide (section)

==History==
Popular interests in identifying things in nature probably were strongest in bird and plant guides. Perhaps the first popular field guide to plants in the United States was the 1893 ''How to Know the Wildflowers'' by "Mrs. William Starr Dana" ([[Frances Theodora Parsons]]).{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} In 1890, [[Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey|Florence Merriam]] published ''Birds Through an Opera-Glass'', describing 70 common species.  Focused on living birds observed in the field, the book is considered the first in the tradition of modern, illustrated bird guides.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barrow|first=Mark V.|title=A Passion for Birds: American Ornithology after Audubon|date=1998|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=9780691044026|pages=156–157}}</ref> In 1902, now writing as Florence Merriam Bailey (having married the zoologist [[Vernon Orlando Bailey|Vernon Bailey]]), she published ''Handbook of Birds of the Western United States''.  By contrast, the ''Handbook'' is designed as a comprehensive reference for the lab rather a portable book for the field. It was arranged by [[taxonomic order]] and had clear descriptions of [[species]] size, distribution, feeding, and nesting habits.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kofalk|first=Harriet|title=No Woman Tenderfoot: Florence Merriam Bailey, Pioneer Naturalist|date=1989|publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]]|location=College Station, TX|isbn=0-89096-378-9|pages=103–104}}</ref>

From this point into the 1930s, features of field guides were introduced by [[Chester A. Reed]] and others such as changing the size of the book to fit the pocket, including colour plates, and producing guides in uniform editions that covered subjects such as garden and woodland flowers, mushrooms, insects, and dogs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dunlap|first=Thomas R.|title=In the Field, Among the Feathered: A History of Birders & Their Guides|date=2011|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York, NY|isbn=9780199734597|pages=[https://archive.org/details/infieldamongfeat0000dunl/page/43 43–44]|url=https://archive.org/details/infieldamongfeat0000dunl/page/43}}</ref>

In 1934, [[Roger Tory Peterson]], using his fine skill as an artist, changed the way modern field guides approached identification. Using color plates with paintings of similar species together – and marked with arrows showing the differences – people could use his bird guide in the field to compare species quickly to make identification easier. This technique, the "[[Peterson Identification System]]", was used in most of Peterson's Field Guides from [[animal tracks]] to [[seashell]]s and has been widely adopted by other publishers and authors as well.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

Today, each field guide has its own range, focus and organization.  Specialist publishers such as Croom Helm, along with organisations like the [[Audubon Society]],  the [[RSPB]], the [[Field Studies Council]], [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]], [[HarperCollins]], and many others all produce quality field guides.