Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats

Nick Davies, David Quinn

• Publisher: T & AD Poyser
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781408136669
• eBook ISBN: 9781408135860
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Zoology
• Index: Biological Sciences

This fascinating study describes the natural histories of these brood parasites and examines many of the exciting questions they raise about the evolution of cheating and the arms race between parasites and their prey.

Brood parasites fill their armoury with adaptations including exquisite egg mimicry, rapid laying, ejection of host eggs, murder of host young, chick mimicry and manipulative begging behaviour: ploys shown by recent research to have evolved in response to host defence behaviour or through competition among the parasites themselves. While many host species appear defenceless, accepting parasite eggs quite unlike their own, many are more discriminating against odd-looking eggs and some have evolved the ability to discriminate against odd-looking chicks as well.

How is this arms race conducted? Will defenceless hosts develop defences in time, or are there constraints which limit the evolution and perfection of host defences? And why are so few species obliged only to lay eggs in host nests? Have host defences limited the success of brood parasitism, or is it in fact much more common than we suspect, but occurring mainly when birds parasitize the nest of their own kind? All of these puzzles are examined in descriptions of the natural history of each of the groups of parasites in turn.

Here is a book with wide appeal, both to amateur naturalists fascinated by this most singular and macabre of behaviours and by ornithologists and ecologists interested in the evolution of ecology and behaviour. The story takes us from the classic field work by pioneer ornithologists such as Edgar Chance, Stuart Baker, Herbert Friedmann and others, through to the experimental field work and molecular techniques of today's leading scientists. We visit brood parasites in Europe, Asia, Japan, Africa, Australasia, and North and South America, to look at some of the world's most interesting birds and some of biology's most interesting questions, many of which still beg answers from ornithologists in the future.

Brilliant illustrations by David Quinn illuminate the species discussed, showing many behaviours never before illustrated and conveying the thrill of watching these astonishing birds in the wild.

APPENDIX 1

The one hundred species of brood parasitic birds

Parasite	Breeding distribution	Main hosts
CUCULINAE (OLD WORLD CUCKOOS): 54 species^1
Jacobin (Pied) Cuckoo Clamator jacobinus	Sub-Saharan Africa. Indian subcontinent to Burma	South Africa – bulbuls and fiscal shrike Central and east Africa and Asia – babblers
Levaillant’s Cuckoo Clamator levaillantii	Sub-Saharan Africa	babblers
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo Clamator coromandus	Northern India and Nepal east to China, Burma and Indochina	laughing thrushes
Great Spotted Cuckoo Clamator glandarius	Southern Europe east to Iran, and Africa	crows, magpies and starlings
Thick-billed Cuckoo Pachycoccyx audeberti	Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar	helmet shrikes
Sulawesi Hawk Cuckoo Cuculus crassirostris	Sulawesi	?
Large Hawk Cuckoo Cuculus sparverioides	Himalayas, China, S.E. Asia to Malay archipelago	spider hunters and laughing thrushes
Common Hawk Cuckoo Cuculus varius	Indian subcontinent, Burma	babblers and laughing thrushes
Moustached Hawk Cuckoo Cuculus vagans	Malay peninsula and archipelago	?
Hodgson’s Hawk Cuckoo Cuculus fugax	S.E. Asia; from N. India, Nepal, China, E. Siberia, Japan; Burma south through Malaysia and Malay archipelago	flycatchers, shortwings and robins
Red-chested Cuckoo Cuculus solitarius	Sub-Saharan Africa	robins and chats
Black Cuckoo Cuculus clamosus	Sub-Saharan Africa	bush shrikes
Indian Cuckoo Cuculus micropterus	Southern Asia, from Indian subcontinent east through China and E. Siberia, south to Malay archipelago	drongos, shrikes, Azure-winged Magpie
Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus	Throughout Palearctic, from western Europe through Russia, China to Japan, and south to northern Africa, Turkey, Pakistan, Himalayas and Burma	Sylvia and Acrocephalus warblers, wagtails, pipits, shrikes, chats, buntings, dunnock, wren
African Cuckoo Cuculus gularis	Sub-Saharan Africa	drongos
Oriental Cuckoo Cuculus saturatus	Eastern Eurasia, from Russia east through Siberia to Japan, and south through China to Malaya and archipelago	Phylloscopus and Cettia warblers
Lesser Cuckoo Cuculus poliocephalus	South-east Asia, from Pakistan, N. India, Burma, S. China to Japan	Phylloscopus and Cettia warblers
Madagascar Cuckoo Cuculus rochii	Madagascar	Cisticola and Acrocephalus warblers, paradise flycatcher Terpsiphone
Pallid Cuckoo Cuculus pallidus	Australia	honeyeaters
Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx mechowi	Sub-Saharan Africa	?
Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx olivinus	Sub-Saharan Africa	?
Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx montanus	Sub-Saharan Africa	?
Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomantis sonneratii	Indian subcontinent, east to S. China, south to Malay archipelago	ioras and minivets
Grey-bellied Cuckoo	Pakistan and India	Cisticola and Prinia
Cacomantis passerinus		warblers and tailorbirds
Plaintive Cuckoo	Asia, from eastern India and	Prinia and Cisticola
Cacomanti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• CHAPTER 01 - A monstrous outrage on maternal affection
• CHAPTER 02 - One hundred brood parasites and some puzzles
• CHAPTER 03 - The Common Cuckoo and its hosts
• CHAPTER 04 - Co-evolution of host defences and Common Cuckoo trickery
• CHAPTER 05 - How to spot a cuckoo egg
• CHAPTER 06 - Driving parents cuckoo
• CHAPTER 07 - Bronze-cuckoos in Africa and Australia
• CHAPTER 08 - The non-evicting cuckoos: manipulative nestlings and Mafia tactics
• CHAPTER 09 - Cuckoos versus hosts: who wins?
• CHAPTER 10 - The Brown-headed Cowbird and its conquest of North America
• CHAPTER 11 - Old and new hosts of the Brown-headed Cowbird and conservation problems
• CHAPTER 12 - ‘Shot-gun’ Shiny and specialist Screaming Cowbirds, with cowbirds and cuckoos compared
• CHAPTER 13 - The parasitic finches of Africa: mimicry of host chicks and host songs
• CHAPTER 14 - Cheating on your own kind
• CHAPTER 15 - Origins
• Notes on the Chapters
• Appendix 1: The one hundred species of brood parasitic birds
• Appendix 2: Scientific names of birds and other animals mentioned in the text
• References
• Colour Plates