Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology Since Darwin, Tim Burkhead, Jo Wimpenny, and Bob Montgomerie, Princeton University Press, hardcover, 524 pages, illustrated, notes, references, index, two appendixes.
"Ten Thousand Birds" examines contributions and advances in the science of ornithology since Darwin, and the people who made them. Work is presented in various categories of study: origin and diversification, ecological adaptations for breeding, form and function, instinct, behavior, sexual selection, population, and a look forward. One appendix lists some histories of ornithology, the other offers a list of 500 ornithologists, living and dead. This is an impressive examination of work that continues. It is written for birders, not scientists. It won't help with identification, but it will greatly expand one's knowledge of the animals that provide us with so much pleasure.
