At first sight just a small brown bird, the dunnock's unobtrusive appearance belies its extraordinary behavior and mating patterns. This book gives a full account of the mating systems of the dunnock or hedge sparrow, Prunella modularis, which include pairs, a male with two females, two males with one female, and several males with several females. Detailed observations, elegant field experiments, and DNA fingerprinting are combined to show how this variable social organization arises from selfish individuals competing to maximize their own reproductive success. Further experiments reveal how...

Intended for graduate and upper level undergraduate courses in behavioural ecology where students are already familiar with the basic ideas, this book continues to define the subject. A completely new set of contributions has been brought together once more to take account of the many exciting new developments in the field. Each chapter presents a balanced view of the subject, integrating a clear exposition of the theory with a critical discussion of how predictions have been tested by experiments and comparative studies. In addition, the book points to unreconciled issues and possible future...