Table of Contents

FOREWORD 7 1 TO FLY OR NOT TO FLY 11 2 THE MASTERY OF FLIGHT 39 3 THE INSATIABLE APPETITE 71 4 MEAT-EATERS 98 5 FISHING FOR A LIVING 118 6 SIGNALS AND SONGS 154 7 FINDING PARTNERS 182 8 THE DEMANDS OF THE EGG 218 9 THE PROBLEMS OF PARENTHOOD 251 10 THE LIMITS OF ENDURANCE 277 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 312 INDEX 316

About the Author

Sir David Attenborough, a Fellow of the Royal Society, is also a Trustee of the British Museum and an Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. He is an internationally esteemed producer and has written the books accompanying his television series Trials of Life, The Living Planet, Life on Earth, and The Private Life of Plants. The latter book was a number-one bestseller in the United Kingdom and is available from Princeton.

Reviews

"A highly readable and vibrantly photographed survey of bird behavior... Ample color photos illustrate the quirks of evolution that Attenborough playfully describes and highlight the scope of his project... This is not a long book. But it is an extraordinarily rich one."--Publishers Weekly "Each chapter is an entertaining and chatty essay that rambles amiably through a series of observations from the ornithological literature. Nearly every page is graced with stunning photographs of wild birds in the most beautiful plumages or performing unusual postures or behaviors. The book is an easy read that covers an enormous amount of information on the biology of birds."--The Quarterly Review of Biology