Includes bibliographical references (pages 278-312) and index.
Contents:
Timeline -- Geological ages -- Prologue : Evolution of an idea -- Part one. The non-passerines. The tinamou's story : death of a paradigm -- The vegavis's story : the cradle of modern birds -- The waterfowl's story : refugia, high living and sex -- The hoatzin's story : an improbable voyage -- The penguin's story : phenotype and environment -- The storm petrel's story : sympatry versus allopatry -- The albatross's story : the species problem -- The godwit's story : quantum compasses -- The buzzard's story : accidental speciation -- The owl's story : nightlife -- The oilbird's story : evolutionary distinctiveness -- The hummingbird's story : a route of evanescence -- The parrot's story : vicariance and dispersal -- Part two. The passerines. The New Zealand wren's story : a novel foot -- The manakin's story : why so many suboscines? -- The sapayoa's story : odd one out -- The scrubbird's story : where song began -- The bowerbird's story : extended phenotypes -- The crow's story : cognitive skills -- The bird-of-paradise's story : sexual selection -- The starling's story : structural colours -- The thrush's story : sweepstake dispersals -- The sparrow's story : hybridisation and speciation -- The zebra finch's story : evolution of birdsong -- The white-eye's story : supertramps and great speciators -- The crossbill's story : adaptive radiation and coevolution -- The tanager's story : a final flourish -- Postscript : the sixth extinction.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.