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.

ニック・デイヴィスの筆致は、単なる博物学を超え、冷徹かつ情熱的な知の冒険へと我々を誘います。本作の本質は、托卵という欺瞞を軸に繰り広げられる、壮絶な進化の軍拡競争にあります。宿主を欺く精緻な擬態や殺戮、それを見破ろうとする防衛本能。そこには生を繋ぐための残酷なまでに美しい知略の応酬があり、読者は自然界の深淵に潜む裏切りの力学に戦慄することでしょう。 先駆者の足跡から最新の科学までを繋ぐ構成は、生命という名の叙事詩です。デイヴィスは寄生鳥の奇怪な生態を暴くだけでなく、その背後にある進化の可能性を鋭く問いかけます。挿絵と共に描かれる鳥たちの営みは、我々の道徳観を揺さぶり、生命が持つ根源的な逞しさを浮き彫りにします。知的好奇心を極限まで刺激する、至高の一冊です。