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Reviews REVIEWS Penguins: Their World, Their Ways By Tui articles are a master-class in the communi- De Roy, Mark Jones & Julie Cornthwaite. cation of scientific research to a much wider Christopher Helm, London. 2013. ISBN public than published papers would 978-1-4081-5212-6. Hundreds of colour normally reach. All the contributors are to be congratulated on the clarity and readability photographs, distribution maps. Hardback. of their accounts. I’m not going to pick out £35.00. any for particular comment, although it was I’ve long passed the age where I expect appropriate that it was given to Conrad much from birthday presents, but earlier this Glass (the ‘Rockhopper Copper’) to describe year I dropped a subtle hint to the wife well the unfortunate events of the 2011 MV in advance, and on the day was delighted to Oliva oil spill at Tristan da Cuhna. unwrap and flick through this book; reading it properly had to wait until the summer The final section (Species Natural History), field season ended! The format follows that compiled by Julie Cornthwaite, gives each of Albatross: Their World, Their Ways species a double-page spread summarising (reviewed in SEABIRD 22). First, the 18 facts and figures, and even these accounts species of penguin recognised here are average 8–9 colour photos. The only described in a series of essays covering the references in the book appear for each different taxonomic groups (e.g. Island species under Taxonomic source and Dandies: The Crested Penguins) in which Tui Conservation status, but these are not listed De Roy’s evocative text is almost lost among in full, although there is a short section on a multitude of stunning photographs, further reading and a very useful list of covering penguins in habitats ranging from websites where the reader can find out mangroves of the Galapagos, New Zealand’s much more information. There’s not a lot rain forests, cactus-strewn islets off Chile, more I can say or enthuse about this book. It stupendously remote Gough Island, and (of is memorable (does it always blizzard at course) Antarctica’s ice shelves and rocky Brown Bluff?) and inspiring (I really must coastline. The photo captions are all add that sub-Antarctic islands of New informative, behaviour is described, and Zealand pelagic to my bucket list, to hell locations are given in virtually all cases. with the cost!). It is also beautifully produced and a credit to all involved, not An interesting chapter by Mark Jones least the publisher - not a square cm is (Penguins and People: A Retrospective) wasted and the layout works perfectly. begins the second section, in which 15 Books like these don’t come along too often penguin experts are given double-page and if you don’t already have a copy, drop a spreads to summarise their research into heavy hint, get lucky, stick your feet up late different aspects of penguin evolution, in the day with a glass of something, and physiology, ecology, population monitoring simply enjoy! and conservation. It would already have been obvious to the reader that this book is Martin Heubeck no mere ‘coffee-table’ production, but these SEABIRD 28 (2015) 89 Reviews The Common Eider By Chris Waltho & how much I learned in reading these, as they John Coulson. T. & A.D. Poyser, re-compiled information provided previously Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2015. in the same chapter, but I guess it is useful in ISBN 978-1-4081-2532-8 (print) ISBN this format. A further sub-section on carrying capacity of habitats for eiders led my 978-1408-1-5280-5 (epub). 352 pages, thoughts to starvation events in the 31 colour photographs and two distri- Waddensee. Unfortunately, this chapter (nor bution maps, numerous illustrations, the chapter on Exploitation, Management graphs and tables. Hardback. £50.00. and Conservation) made no reference to this issue and the potential problem of This book is a recent addition to the Poyser competition with fisheries, which would series, complete with its reputation for rich appear to be a major problem for the species production values. The book follows a logical in some parts of its range. sequence of a detailed introduction to the Common Eider Somateria mollissima, its Chapters six to eleven contain considerable distribution, movements and abundance and detail about Common Eider breeding and the food and feeding. The lion’s share of this book breeding season, covering timing, egg laying, is made up of descriptions of the species’ clutch size, incubation and hatching, colonial breeding activity, much of it based upon the nesting and finally the ducklings. This is authors’ own research in the Firth of Clyde where the strength of this book lies, because and coast of Northumbria. This section there is great detail from the authors’ own includes research not published previously. research and reference to studies in other The latter chapters cover mortality and parts of the breeding range. I could not see survivorship, human exploitation of eiders any obvious gaps in the breadth of topics and their conservation and management. The covered within these chapters, although the final chapter by Diana Solovyeva compares balance was weighted inevitably towards the similarities and differences between the their own research in the UK. four recognised eider species. Six appendices provide detailed information to support the This book is not big enough to cover every preceding chapters. detail of the Common Eider’s life history, the main gap in my mind being the sparseness I focussed my attention on the chapters that of information about what this species does made greatest use of the authors’ own when it is not breeding. This is my perpetual research, especially as they were presenting grumble about all monographs I read, and is new material. The chapter on food and a reflection of the lack of research in this feeding was an interesting one for subject area (although this is changing demonstrating that their diet, although rapidly with the advent of new tracking usually dominated by the Blue Mussel methods). The authors could have done Mytilus edulis, is much more catholic than more to address this shortcoming, for acknowledged in the literature. There is a example by including a map of the species’ good description of the different prey items wintering distribution; even the UK Winter found to have been consumed by the species Atlas map would have helped. The and a brief account of the energetic value of appendices contain a list of important sites their prey (fairly similar between food types). (breeding, wintering and non-breeding) but I found it interesting to read about the nothing to support what makes them difference in biomass of potential prey in important. More information about the different habitat types used by Common diving behaviour of Common Eider would Eiders, with mussel beds and sublittoral also have been helpful (there is a bit of sandbanks with the bivalve Spisula being the research material available on this subject). most important. A section of this chapter describes the main habitat types used by Poyser always used to be synonymous with eiders; six of them apparently. I wasn’t sure high quality production, but the rest of the 90 SEABIRD 28 (2015) Reviews publishing world appears to have stolen a search hard to find that they were drawn by march on these publishers now. The book is Tim Wootton. well written and edited. If I searched hard enough, I’m sure I could find mistakes, but I thought that the full price for this book was that’s true of any book. I found the text to expensive, but probably comparable to be too cluttered on the page, and more former times if inflation is accounted for. could have been done with the figures to Bloomsbury are probably aware of the price, convey the story they are telling. The because I saw substantial discounts clustering of colour photographs (mostly available when I looked online. I recommend John Anderson’s excellent material) in the buying this book, if for no other reason than centre pages is an old format and more it is worth obtaining a copy for its in-depth colour within the body of the book would research on all aspects of Common Eider have improved the appearance greatly. Each breeding behaviour in the UK. chapter is headed by a beautiful vignette but with no obvious credit; you have to Andy Webb The Devil’s Cormorant: a Natural life from the author’s perspective as he History By Richard J. King. University of follows the trials and tribulations of New Hampshire Press, Lebanon NH. 2014 cormorants breeding on nearby Gates (paperback edition by Oxbow Books Ltd, Island, “just by the mouth of the Mystic Oxford). ISBN 978-1-61168-699-9. 352 River at the far eastern edge of Long Island Sound” and close enough to King’s office for pages, 22 b/w figures. Paperback, £18.00. him to be able to hop in a boat and visit. In fact, he’s done this for over a decade, The Devil is in the Detail sometimes as often as twice a week. These I enjoyed reading this book. Richard King is a monthly book-ends, across the cycle of a full senior lecturer in the ‘Literature of the Sea year, keep the reader nicely grounded (or and the American Environmental Movement’ should that be ‘watered’?) in the elemental at Williams-Mystic, a maritime studies world of cormorants, reminding us of their programme based in Mystic, Connecticut, naturalness and the geographic expanse of USA. King writes well, stitching together their world.