Frontmatter
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Plates
Preface
1 Of Peculiar Interest: Neolithic Birds
2 Inside the Catacombs: The Birds of Ancient Egypt
3 Talking Birds: The Beginnings of Science in Greece and Rome
4 Manly Pursuits: Hunting and Conspicuous Consumption
5 Renaissance Thinking: The Parts of Birds
6 The New World of Science: Francis Willughby and John Ray Discover Birds
7 Depending on Birds: Inconspicuous Consumption
8 The End of God in Birds: Darwin and Ornithology
9 A Dangerous Type of Bigamy: Killing Time
10 Watching Birds: And Seeing the Light
11 A Boom in Bird Studies: Behaviour, Evolution and Ecology
12 Ghost of the Great Auk: Third Mass Extinction
Epilogue
List of Birds Mentioned in the Text
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index