A dazzling display

摘要

It is hard not to grin when ring-necked parakeets flash past. Descendants of avicultural escapees they may be, and destroyers of fruit buds too, but they bring a raucous splash of tropical sound and colour to a drab London day. In Parrots of the Wild, Catherine Toft and Timothy Wright aim for full coverage. Examining the bird's origins, history, physiology, diet, behaviour and conservation, with sections on intelligence, sociality and their remarkably variable and complex beaks and tongues, the researchers realise their aim splendidly. In this joyfully but carefully written journey into parrotland, we learn all sorts of marvellous details. Parrots have one of the greatest size variations of any bird group. The hyacinth macaw is 100 times the weight of the thumb-sized buff-faced pygmy parrot, for example. And while Australian lorikeets lap nectar with brush-like tongues, some macaw and cockatoo beaks can focus near-bolt-cutter force.