The Cuckoos

The Cuckoos is lavishly illustrated with 20 stunning colour plates by Karen Klitz and numerous drawings by John Megahan. Click on the thumbnail images below to view the illustrations.

Click on the images below to view the plates.
Plate 1	Plate 2	Plate 3	Plate 4	Plate 5
Plate 6	Plate 7	Plate 8	Plate 9	Plate 10
Plate 11	Plate 12	Plate 13	Plate 14	Plate 15
Plate 16	Plate 17	Plate 18	Plate 19	Plate 20

The cuckoos are the most variable birds in social behaviour and parental care. A few cuckoos are among the most social of all birds and rear their young in a common nest. Most cuckoos are caring parents that rear their own young with some females laying a few eggs in the nests of others. However, many cuckoo species are brood parasites who leave their eggs in the nests of other birds, with their young maturing to kill their foster nestmates.

In "The Cuckoos", Robert B. Payne presents a new evolutionary history of the cuckoo family based on molecular genetics, and uses the family tree to explore the origins and diversity of their behaviour. He traces details of the cuckoos' biology to their original sources, includes descriptions of previously unpublished field observations, and reveals new comparisons of songs showing previously overlooked cuckoo species. Download the table of contents (PDF 792Kb).

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