The Sparrows

Denis Summers-Smith (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

352 Seiten

2010
T & AD Poyser (Verlag)
978-1-4081-3824-3 (ISBN)

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Denis Summers-Smith first took up the study of the House Sparrow in 1947, thinking that the difficulties of travel in post-war Britain would best suit the study of a species always close at hand. The humble House Sparrow, common everywhere, was surprisingly poorly researched and his work soon provided interesting insights into this successful and adaptable little bird. As new opportunities to travel opened up, his interest blossomed to take in the genus Passer as a whole. His travels would ultimately lead to his study of all but one of the group, found only in deepest Turkestan, and to the publication of his authoritative monograph on sparrows in 1988. While that book presented his knowledge of sparrow biology, this volume tells the other, human, side of the tale. His wry descriptions of the tribulations and unexpected pleasures of a traveller on four continents, from the Himalayas and Thailand to Africa and the Americas (with a good few islands in between), are interspersed with observations and speculations on the biology of sparrows in a wide variety of habitats.
Everywhere local officials and bird watchers warmed to the eccentric Scot in pursuit of the little birds that nobody notices but which so often make their homes beside us. The author's own photographs and delightful cartoons by Euan Dunn further paint the picture of this lifelong search.

Denis Summers-Smith is a mechanical engineer and, although nominally retiring in 1982, still continues to consult in tribology, his specialist field; in this capacity he has visited all six continents in the past five years. He confesses to an obsessional interest in sparrows. This began in 1947 with a study of the House Sparrow that led to the publication of The House Sparrow in 1963. He then broadened his interest to the other members of the genus, travelling extensively throughout Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean basin in their pursuit. A second book, The Sparrows, appeared in 1988. His wife, Margaret, has been a faithful attendant on most of these journeys. He has served on committees of the British Ornithologists' Union and the British Trust for Ornithology, publishing a number of papers in the journals of both these societies.

Preface and acknowledgements
Introduction

1 The Afrotropical grey-headed sparrows
2 Golden Sparrow
3 Chestnut Sparrow
4 Cape Sparrow
5 Rufous Sparrpw
6 Iago Sparrow
7 Somali Sparrow
8 Desert Sparrow
9 House Sparrow
10 Willow (Spanish) Sparrow
11 Dead Sea Sparrow
12 Sind Jungle Sparrow
13 Pegu Sparrow
14 Cinnamon Sparrow
15 Tree Sparrow
16 Saxaul Sparrow
17 Characteristics and interrelationships
18 Origins and evolution
19 The systematic position of the sparrows

Appendix A A Key to the names of the sparrows
Appendix B Gazetteer

Erscheint lt. Verlag	30.10.2010
Reihe/Serie	Poyser Monographs
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	662 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Naturführer
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Zoologie
ISBN-10	1-4081-3824-7 / 1408138247
ISBN-13	978-1-4081-3824-3 / 9781408138243
Zustand	Neuware