Nature's Music - The Science of Birdsong

Hardback  504pp, 142 illus  ISBN 0124730701      £49.95

The voices of birds have always been a source of fascination. Nature's Music brings together some of the world's experts on birdsong, to review the advances that have taken place in our understanding of how and why birds sing, what their songs and calls mean, and how they have evolved. All contributors have strived to speak, not only to fellow experts, but also to the general reader. The result is a book of readable science, richly illustrated with recordings and pictures of the sounds of birds.

Bird song is much more than just one behaviour of a single, particular group of organisms. It is a model for the study of a wide variety of animal behaviour systems, ecological, evolutionary and neurobiological. Bird song sits at the intersection of breeding, social and cognitive behaviour and ecology. As such interest in this book will extend far beyond the purely ornithological - to behavioural ecologists psychologists and neurobiologists of all kinds.

Contents

Science and birdsong: the good old days
Vocal fighting and flirting: the functions of birdsong
Learning to sing
The diversity and plasticity of birdsong
Bird calls: a cornucopia for communication
Singing in the wild: the ecology of birdsong
Audition: can birds hear everything they sing?
Brains and birdsong
How birds sing and why it matters
Performance limits on birdsong
Birdsong and conservation
Grey parrots: learning and using speech
Singing, socializing, and the music effect