Author : David Lack
Release : 1973
Genre : Apodidae
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Swifts in a Tower by : David Lack

Download or read book Swifts in a Tower written by David Lack. This book was released on 1973. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The swift has greater mastery of the air than any other bird, but is one of the least known, as it nests inaccessibly in holes. The Author studied a colony in an Oxford tower, by substituting glass-backed nesting boxes for the ventilators in which they were nesting ; after which the birds could be watched from a few inches away, thus providing unique means of studying them. Their flight (which may last five hours), courtship and nesting behaviour were fully studied, and have been illustrated with unique photographs by electornic flash by H. N. Southern. Behaviour in the air was also observed, swifts being the only birds known to mate on the wing. They also drink, bathe and collect their food and nesting materials without alighting, and even spend the night on the wing. Swifts migrate to South Africa, but the old story that they hibernate contains some element of truth. The races of swifts are described, their birth-rate and death-rate analysed, and comparisons are made with the many tropical swifts, some of which (such as those whose nests provide 'Birds-nest soup') have habits as remarkable as those of our British bird. When first published in 1956, this book was the first full-length study of perhaps the most remarkable of all British birds, and now seventeen years later has become a classic in its field. Not only is it an invaluable text for ornithologists, but its non-technical language makes it suitable for readers with a general interest in natural history. Just below the tower where the swifts nested, Samuel Wilberforce and T. H. Huxley held their famous debate on evolution, and adaptation forms a recurrent theme in the book, its wider implications being considered in a final chapter. -- from dust jacket.