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Book Cover
E-book
Author Birkhead, Tim, author.

Title Ten Thousand Birds : Ornithology since Darwin / Tim Birkhead, Jo Wimpenny, Bob Montgomerie
Published Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2014

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 524 pages) : illustrations (some color), color maps
Contents Yesterday's birds -- The origin and diversification of species -- Birds on the tree of life -- Ebb and flow -- Ecological adaptations for breeding -- Form and function -- The study of instinct -- Behavior as adaptation -- Selection in relation to sex -- Population studies of birds -- Tomorrow's birds -- Afterword -- Appendix 1. Some histories of ornithology -- Appendix 2. Five hundred ornithologists
Summary A thoroughly engaging and authoritative history of modern ornithology, tracing how the study of birds has been shaped by a succession of visionary and often-controversial personalities, and by the unique social and scientific contexts in which these extraordinary individuals worked. This beautifully illustrated book opens in the middle of the nineteenth century when ornithology was a museum-based discipline focused almost exclusively on the anatomy, taxonomy, and classification of dead birds. It describes how in the early 1900s pioneering individuals such as Erwin Stresemann, Ernst Mayr, and Julian Huxley recognized the importance of studying live birds in the field, and how this shift thrust ornithology into the mainstream of the biological sciences. The book tells the stories of eccentrics like Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a pathological liar who stole specimens from museums and quite likely murdered his wife, and describes the breathtaking insights and discoveries of ambitious and influential figures such as David Lack, Niko Tinbergen, Robert MacArthur, and others who through their studies of birds transformed entire fields of biology
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes In English
Print version record
Subject Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 -- Influence
SUBJECT Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 -- Influence
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 fast
Subject Ornithology -- History -- 19th century
Ornithology -- History -- 20th century
Ornithology -- History -- 21st century
Ornithologists.
Birds.
Evolution (Biology)
Birds
ornithologists.
NATURE -- Animals -- Birds.
NATURE -- Birdwatching Guides.
SCIENCE -- Life Sciences -- Zoology -- Ornithology.
SCIENCE -- Natural History.
Birds
Evolution (Biology)
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Ornithologists
Ornithology
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Wimpenny, Jo, author.
Montgomerie, Robert D. (Robert Dennis), author.
ISBN 9781400848836
1400848830
0691151970
9780691151977
9781306428880
1306428882
9781786840745
178684074X