A fascinating and highly readable monograph, showcasing one of the flagship species of wetland conservation in Britain to superb effect. The arrival of thousands of Bewick's Swans from their Arctic breeding grounds to lakes and wetlands throughout northern and eastern Britain is an unforgettable sight. Popular among both birders and the wider public, these elegant birds are among the best-studied waterfowl in the world. Beginning with the work of the late Sir Peter Scott in the 1950s, Britain's Bewick's have been the subject of intensive behavioural study, while their population ecology has provided a similar focus for research. In Bewick's Swan, Eileen Rees tells the story of these birds in rich detail. Rees discusses their biology in full, with sections on population and distribution, breeding biology, wintering behaviour, food and feeding ecology, taxonomy and phylogeny, migration, and conservation; much original research is included, and there is frequent reference to the Bewick's sibling subspecies, the Tundra Swan of North America. Personal recollections from a lifetime of study weave through the narrative, which is illuminated by Dafila Scott's evocative illustrations.

If it is true that science proceeds from a romantic through a scientific to a technological stage, then research on bird orientation is certainly on its move from its first to its second grade, and recent developments in radiotelemetry and satellite tracking of migrating birds might already indicate the advent of the third stage. At this juncture, Orientation in Birds is a timely account. Even though the study of animal migration in general, and bird navigation in particular, has produced a literature of impressive proportions, the threads provided by the plethora of research papers, review articles and symposiums volumes have not yet been knitted into a theoretical fabric. This is partly due to our still incomplete understanding of fundamen tal topics in avian navigation. The answer to the most intriguing question of how a bird displaced to "unknown" territory finds its way back home is as obscure now as it was a few decades ago. Whether and how birds solve this problem by using far ranging grid-maps or more local familiar-area maps, as has been proposed off and on, is still a matter of heated debates. These debates frequently center around provocative hypotheses - let alone the question about the physical (topographic, magnetic, infrasonic, olfactory) parameters which might constitute such maps.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.