Scrutable

Apparently my niece is doing some coursework on avian brood parasitism, specifically between the pallid honeyguide and the yellow-rumped tinkerbird (the honeyguide lays its eggs in the nest of the tinkerbird). They're in an evolutionary arms race against each other, because the honeyguide's eggs are evolving to match the tinkerbird's, and the tinkerbird is trying to evolve distinct eggs.

That's all I know. Anyone have any other bird parasitism anecdotes?

Cowbirds in the US are parasitic birds and have long been the subject of study as an example of a co-evolutionary arms race. One of my undergrad lecturers did his PhD on them. Can probably hunt out some papers if they're of use. Iirc they shift host bird fairly regularly as they quickly evolve defences.

Fleas Flukes & Cuckoos by Miriam Rothschild in the Collins New Naturalist series is one of the most wonderful books ever written.

I have nothing useful to add to this thread, but I cannot resist saying that yellow-rumped tinkerbird is an absolutely wonderful name.

Apologies for the interruption.

tenchboy wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:44 pm Fleas Flukes & Cuckoos by Miriam Rothschild in the Collins New Naturalist series is one of the most wonderful books ever written.

Tell me more about it - I can't see any actual reviews of it, and on the surface it could seem a bit dry?

El Pollo Diablo wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 8:21 am

tenchboy wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:44 pm Fleas Flukes & Cuckoos by Miriam Rothschild in the Collins New Naturalist series is one of the most wonderful books ever written.

Tell me more about it - I can't see any actual reviews of it, and on the surface it could seem a bit dry?

Oh it's old, very old; not very, very old, but old: 1952. Bit busy today but will sort you something out tonight.

What is so wonderful about this book is that it is not just the subject itself, but her love of the subject and her enthusiasm for it that comes over so vividly from every page. She knew her subject inside out and loved to tell other people all about it in every gory detail; if Miriam Rothschild had been of a later generation she would have been a Magnus Pyke or a Bellamy - TV's go to person at every available opportunity. The style of this volume is very much more suited to the general reader than many of the other N.N. volumes which generally progress from general introductory chapters through advanced student level to specialist level.
I thought that I had marked some favourite passages but have just looked and this is not the case.
In Peter Marren's book about the history of the N.N. books he writes:
...Miriam Rothschild presented the bizarre world of bird parasites unsqueamishly but in a wonderful clear and accessible way. Some of the regular book reviewers in the daily papers were equally enthralled by it... 'Ramsey...marvelous quotability... Quennel...scarcely a dull page... A surprise - sometimes a nightmarish surprise - in every paragraph... Mortimer... I have read this book with my eyes popping out of my head so amusing amazing appalling are the habits here uncovered... The Spectator... a new direction in Natural History writing.'
It was a rare example of a book that managed to be a contribution to literature as well as to science.
He also says there was a Reader's Union edition as well as the Pelican paperback but that the Irish Grey Arrow edition is ' a travesty of a book, full of misprints that the authors were [not able] to correct'.
I just had a look for you, there's a hardback copy on ebay for £3.25, which considering the usual prices go £17-£20 ish at the least before jumping to £30 and £50 is a must buy.
I promise you won't regret it.
Happy Days
TB