Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic, often known simply as Birds of the Western Palearctic or BWP, is a nine-volume handbook of birds of the western portion of the Palearctic zoogeographical region, covering Europe, Macaronesia, North Africa, northern parts of the Arabian Peninsula and Russia to the west of the Urals. It was conceived as a successor to The Handbook of British Birds (H.F. Witherby et al, published 1938-1941). BWP was published by Oxford Uninversity Press between 1977 and 1996, and a two-volume concise edition published in 1998. For the first five volumes, Stanley Cramp acted as principal editor. Following his death in 1987, that role was taken over by Duncan Brooks (volume 6) and Christopher Perrins (volumes 7-9). Contributions to the work were received from across the international community of ornithologists.