MARCH 1997 NEW BIOLOGICAL BOOKS 87

THE MEGAPODES: MEGAPODIIDAE. Bird Familiesof in multiple views illustratingsex, age, and geo-
theWorld. graphic variation.Views of birds seen from below
By DarrylN Jones,Rene W R J Dekker,and Cees S or in flightare much appreciated. The book is more
Roselaar;SeriesEditors:C M Perrinsetal.; illustrated than a guide; Quinn's plates (such as Plate 10 of the
byBervan Perlo.Oxfordand New York:OxfordUni- wallcreeper) are worksof art.
Press.$60.00. xx + 262 p + 8 pl; ill.; index.
versity The distributionmaps are not as successful.The
ISBN: 0-19-854651-3.1995. small scale can make it difficultto recognize the
The familyof megapodes is a bizarre group of 22 geography. This is a trickyproblem to solve, espe-
species scattered among the Indo-Pacific islands. ciallywhere a species' range is verylimited. A key
They are the onlybirds thatincubate theireggswith thatillustratesthe significanceof map colors would
heat derived not fromthe body but fromenviron- be a useful addendum to description in the text,
mental sources. Most of these species build mounds but thisis a minor quibble.
of forestlitterthat heats by microbial decomposi- Some will disagree with Harrap's rationale for
tion, but a few lay their eggs in ground heated by splittingratherthan lumping (p 14). For example,
the sun or volcanic activity.It is not surprisingthat elevatinga population to species statusto stimulate
thisvolume concentrateson the group's unique re- conservation interestseems a dubious venture. In
productive biology, but it is also a comprehensive the analysisof voice, we prefersonograms to ono-
reviewof practicallyeverythingthatis knownabout matopoeic descriptions,which are subjective.How-
the family.With 26 pages of references (a tenthof ever, onomatopoeic descriptions might be useful
the total), the volume is an exhaustive key to the in the field,and some sonograms are included. Be
known literature,old and new. aware that the literatureon the function of songs
This volume is the thirdof a series,Bird Families and calls is rapidly evolving,so Harrap's account
of the World, and is divided into two parts. Part 1 should be viewed as provisional.
contains nine chapters on the systematics,general All thissaid, the expectations raised bythe excel-
biology, reproductive biology and conservation. lent plates are met in the text.The titliteratureis
Part 2 contains accounts of all 22 species, including verydifficult,because the taxonomyis in a state of
taxonomy, anatomical descriptions, geographical flux, no one knows what to do with hybrids,and
variation,range, conservation status,field charac- some species (e.g., great titand black-capped chick-
ters,voice, habitats,food, behavior,breeding infor- adee) are hugelystudied whereas many (especially
mation, and local names. Eight colored plates in- Asiaticpopulations) are poorlyknown.We were im-
clude all species as adults and juveniles, and there pressed withthe clarityand detail of the species ac-
are detailed distribution maps, sonograms, and counts, especially sections on distribution and
other textfigures. movementsand geographic variation.
The textis clear,well organized and usuallyfasci- The book is a treasuryofinformationto stimulate
nating to read. There is a good mix of solid descrip- futurework and is an excellent buy.
tiveinformationand well-foundedspeculation on, LAURENE RATCLIFFE, Biologyand RON WEISMAN,
forexample, the evolution of the group and itsbe- Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston,Ontario,
havior.A veryfewfactual and typographicalerrors Canada
do not detractfroman excellent presentation.My
main criticismwould be thatsome chapters in Part
1 need more consistentliteraturecitation to help THE DOMESTIC DOG: ITS EVOLUTION, BEHAVIOUR,
researchersfollowup manystatementsin the volu- AND INTERACTIONS WITH PEOPLE.
minous bibliography,and that significantoverlap Edited byJamesSerpell;pencil drawingsbyPriscilla
between chapters could have been reduced bycon- Barrett.Cambridge and New York:Cambridge Univer-
solidation. sityPress.$69.95 (hard cover); $19.95 (paper). xi
ROGER S SEYMOUR, Zoology, University ofAdelaide, + 268 p; ill.; index. ISBN: 0-521-41529-2 (hc);
Adelaide,Australia 0-521-42537-9(pb). 1995.
This usefulvolume is the outcome of a 1991 confer-
ence of the same title hosted by the Companion
CHICKADEES,TITS, NUTHATCHES& TREECREEPERS. Animal Research Group in Cambridge, England.
BySimonHarrap and David Quinn. Princeton(New Its declared purpose is to provide a state-of-the-art
Jersey):PrincetonUniversity
Press.$49.50. 464 p; ill.; synopsis of the behavior and natural history of
index. ISBN: 0-691-01083-8.1996. the domestic dog based on scientificstudyrather
This is an impressive,world-rangingfield guide to than popular lore and hearsay. In this it succeeds,
some of our favoritespecies of songbirds. Harrap offering16 discussions by appropriate specialists,
wrote the textand Quinn illustratedit. Technically distributed among three sections: domestication
it is a superb book; in number, quality,and layout, and evolution, behavior and behavior problems,
the color plates are stunning.Each species is shown and human-dog interactions.The firstsection has
88 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY
only twopapers, although the thoughtfulcontribu-
tion by Coppinger and Schneider is effectively two
in one, the firston ethology of workingdogs, the
second on evolutionaryorigins.Eight papers in the
second section cover several subjects, including
breed and gender differencesin behavior, behav-
ioral development, and behavior therapyforprob-
lem dogs. Papers in the finalsection deal withdogs
as companion animals, dog welfarein human soci-
ety,and the ecology of free-rangingdogs in rural
Italy (two chapters). In general, the papers are
clearlywrittenand not overlytechnical,making the
book a usefulresource well beyond the ranksofspe-
cialists.
The glue that helps binds this spectrum of sub-
jects togetheris a theme developed byeditorJames
Serpell in his opening and closing essays: the dog
as navigatorofa world in which the keycomponent,
Homo sapiens, oscillates between regarding it as
friend versus outcast, a coddled subject of doting
affectionversus a feared or contemptuously dis-
missed object of derision. This theme works be-
cause several chapters in between reveal the con-
trast.
Among the differentsubjects discussed, several
contributorsdistinguish"natural" from "artificial"
selection as agents underlyingvariabilityin dogs, as
though the products of the former,a sortof predo-
mesticationlegacy, mightbest reflectthe animals'
original, true (i.e., "natural") adaptive repertoire.
Perhaps itis counterintuitiveto thinkof the human
household as an ecological arena in whichdogs play
out intraspecificcompetitions.But that's exactlyit,
and the centralityof this settingwhere "artificial"
selection dominates is underscored bythe excellent
chapters on free-rangingdogs. Most of those ani-
mals lead tough,shortlives,and population mainte-
nance depends on recruitment.Thus, the repro-
ductiveautonomy theygain in consequence of this
lifeappears to be a poor bargain.
Recruits into free-rangingdog groups are the
ones that don't get securelyenfolded into human
society.Life is highlyvariable forthose thatdo, but
forthe reallysuccessfulones another species raises
their young, provides social reinforcement,food,
shelter,exercise, individual hygiene,medical care,
or some combination thereof.And we, the other
species, do all this despite frequent disgust for a
creature that, to use Serpell's colorful phrasing,
"eats shit,sniffsgenitals,and bites people" (p 254).
Sounds mightyadaptive to me! To echo the cover
notes,domesticdogs certainlyare extraordinaryan-
imals.And witha reasonable price fora high-quality
softbound edition, one can read all about them
withoutgoing broke.
DARCY F MOREY, Anthropology, Universityof Ten-
nessee,Knoxville,Tennessee
VOLUME 72
CRC HANDBOOK OF MAMMALIAN BODY MASSES.
By Marina Silva and JohnA Downing.Boca Raton
(Florida): CRC Press.$99.95. vii + 359 p; index.
ISBN: 0-8493-2790-3.1995.
Afterlearningwhat kind of creature one is dealing
with,the next most importantdatum forany mam-
mal is itsbody mass. Identificationputs the subject
in a phylogenetic context, and this plus its mass
allows one to predict numerous featuresof the or-
ganism's physiology,morphology,life history,and
sometimes even its ecological role. Much is known
about body mass among mammals,but a handbook
that assembles these data in a readily accessible
formclearlycan benefitdiverseresearchers.Unfor-
tunately,the authors do not discuss theiruse of the
term "mass" in the title instead of "weight,"even
though their data are largely estimates of mass
based on body weights.
There are well over 4000 species of living
mammals,and body mass generallyvarieswithage,
sex, and geography.This complexitymakes a com-
prehensive compilation of weight data a coura-
geous task.The authors of thisvolume are partially
successfulin achieving thisgoal. They have assem-
bled data on 59 percent of mammalian species, rep-
resenting all the extant orders. Body mass varies
over eight orders of magnitude, ranging from a
blue whale (Balaenopteramusculus)weighing in at
172,000 kg to the Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus)
witha minimumadult weightreportedat 1.2 g. Sec-
ond place at 2 g is shared by three bats, six other
shrews,and one rodent.
Followinga briefintroductorychapter,thereare
21 chapters devoted to various orders,arranged al-
phabetically.Withoutcomment, the pinnipeds are
givenordinal status,even thoughithas been known
for about 25 years that these marine mammals are
embedded in the Order Carnivora.Data (in kg) are
arranged by sex withminimum and maximum val-
ues givenwhen available, geographic location, and
references.The data chapters have remarkablyfew
typos,but users should not assume there are no er-
rors.A fewentrieshave the decimal point displaced,
some are listedunder the wrongspecies, and spuri-
ous localities are sometimes given. A more subtle
typeof error is exemplified by Microtuscalifornicus
(p 230) where weightsfromcaptive individualsare
reported that are more than 15 g greater than any
knownfieldweights.Missinggenera forwhich pub-
lished weightdata are available range fromthe well
known Homoto the obscure Mayermys.
Chapter 23 offerstwo tables of regressionequa-
tions for the prediction of body weightfrombody
lengths.These calculations are based on 1733 spe-
cies in 12 orders, and are arranged by orders and
by major families.Citationsfor 1610 referencesfor
the data chapters are listed, followed finallyby an
index to genera. All in all, thisis a usefulhandbook.