image: This is the Daurian shrike Lanius isabellinus speculigerus. The photo was taken in Altay, Chuya Steppe. view more
Credit: Photo by E.N. Panov.
The shrikes have attracted the attention of ornithologists for a long time, mainly because of their predatory nature and the methods which they use to dispatch their prey. In the book, the most important information on shrikes of the World is summarized, much of which has accumulated in the ornithological literature and obtained by the author himself.
Also examined here, all within the framework of an integral system of adaptation, are evolutionary trends affecting changes in body size and coloration, foraging behavior, breeding dispersion, motor signal behavior and vocalizations. Special attention is paid to the development of signal and communication behavior in groups of closely related species at different stages of their divergent evolution.
The author, an exceptionally skilled observer and interpreter of bird behavior, has drawn on his immense experience of many hours spent watching shrikes in the field and has reared young shrikes in captivity. The book's thought-provoking text is well supported by an array of diagrams, tables, drawings by the author, and color photo graphs of birds and habitats.