The Secret Life of Birds. Who They Are And What They Do

List of illustrations ix List of figures xii Acknowledgements xiii Preface 1 I A Different Way of Being 1. What It Means to be a Flier 11 2. How Birds Became 35 II Dramatis Personae 3. Keeping Track: The Absolute Need to Classify 79 4. All the Birds in the World: An Annotated Cast List 114 III How Birds Live Their Lives 5. The Eating Machine 213 6. The World as an Oyster 264 7. Idyll and Mayhem: The Sex Lives of Birds 284 8. Families and Friends 346 9. The Mind of Birds 390 IV Birds and Us 10. Living with Birds and Learning from Birds 427 Epilogue: A Matter of Attitude 451 Further Reading 460 Index 463