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Bowerbirds
Hardback
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- Book Synopsis
- The bowerbirds are confined to the great island of New Guinea and the island continent of Australia, and their immediately adjacent islands. They are medium-sized birds, omnivorous and largely solitary. They are unique in the avian world in that the males build elaborate 'bowers': structures of sticks, grasses or other plant stems on or close to the ground for display and courtship, often incorporating objects such as colourful fruits, flowers, feathers, bones, stones, shells, insect skeletons, and numerous other natural (and human-made) objects. The highly sophisticated building, decorating, collecting, arranging, thieving, singing, and courtship posturing and dancing by males is primarily to attract and impress females. As much of it is performed in the absence of females, however, some consider it possible that males may also enjoy such activities for their own sake. The bowers and the birds' behaviour associated with them have been much studied by behavioural ecologists searching for evolutionary and ecological explanations of behavioural patterns. The authors' aims include: (a) making the reader aware of the broader significance of bowerbirds to general biological studies and (b) providing references to key literature on theoretical issues. Part I contains general chapters on bowerbird evolution, behaviour, environment, demography, courtship patterns, breeding biology, and sexual selection. Part II follows with 21 species accounts, giving comprehensive information on the birds in their natural state, including distribution maps and sonographs. Complementing the species accounts are superb colour plates by Eustace Barnes, especially commissioned for this volume. The Bowerbirds, like its companions in the series, is an indispensable work of reference for everyone interested in birds.
- About The Author
- Clifford Frith is the author of a highly-respected companion volume in the Bird Families of the World series, The Birds of Paradise. Clifford's early ornithological positions included the The Natural History Museum, London, and the Royal Society of London Research Station, Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean. He obtained his PhD at Griffith University, Brisbane, for evolutionary studies of bowerbirds and birds of paradise. Dawn Frith obtained her PhD, in littoral zone marine biology, at London University and lectured in zoology before meeting Clifford on Aldabra Atoll, where she studied insects. Both Cliff and Dawn are private ornithologists and self-employed natural history authors, photographers, and publishers. They have worked on tropical Australasian birds, as well as various other avian, other vertebrate, and invertebrate, groups, and mangrove ecology, in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, and tropical Pacific. They are Honorary Research Fellows of the Queensland Museum and joint recipients of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union's D. L. Serventy Medal for contributions to ornithology.
- Product Details
-
- ISBN
- 9780198548447
- Format
- Hardback
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press, (26 February 2004)
- Number of Pages
- 416
- Weight
- 1307 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 254 x 199 x 29.9 mm
- Series:
- See all books in this series
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