The robin was hardly understood when David Lack - Britain's most influential ornithologist - started his scientific observations. This book is a landmark in natural history, not just for its discoveries, but because of the approachable style, sharpened with an acute wit. It reads as fascinatingly today as when it was written.

Robert Gillmor, one of Britain's most influential wildlife artist, has illustrated four sets of pictorial stamps featuring birds for Royal Mail's Post & Go. Brought together and reproduced here for the first time, in larger-than-stamp size, these prints demonstrate the author's lifelong love and appreciation of our nation's birds. His own account of the process by which his linocuts are made, along with anecdotal descriptions of his bird encounters, bring the pictures to life. This beautifully produced collection will be coveted by wildlife lovers, artists and stamp collectors alike.

Allen W. Seaby's life has been described as "a classic tale of Victorian self-improvement." But there is more to the tale than just upward mobility. A. W. Seaby was a pioneering, innovative and inspirational man who rose to become a prominent print-maker, teacher, author and illustrator. Best-known for his colour woodcut printing using traditional Japanese methods, and as a prominent wildlife artist, the story of Seaby's many accomplishments is recounted by his grandson, who inherited Seaby's love of birds and became internationally renowned in his own right, Robert Gillmor. Alongside this personal recount, Martin Andrews (Seaby's successor as President of the Reading Guild of Artists) selects aspects of his career and expands upon his techniques, his illustrative methods, his circle of fellow artists and the books he published to give a full and rounded account of a man whose work is currently enjoying a well-deserved renaissance.

This book describes the results of a long-term study of the ecology, evolutionary genetics and sociobiology of a seabird, the Arctic Skua. This species is polymorphic: the birds show one of three, genetically different forms of plumage - pale, intermediate and dark. The forms vary in frequency from predominantly pale in the north to dark in the south. The study was undertaken with the aim of explaining how natural and sexual selection act to maintain all three forms of skua in its populations. The results show that natural selection for pale is balanced by sexual selection for intermediate and dark. Models derived from Darwin's theories of female choice and sexual selection in monogamous birds fit the breeding data of the Arctic Skua. Darwibn's views on sexual selection are fully confirmed. The study produced original data on breeding ecology, demography, population regulation, sexual behaviour and territoriality. A chapter on feeding ecology is also included in the book, which gives a complete and largely original account of the population ecology and sociobiology of a single species of bird.

Cape Clear Island, the most southerly point of Ireland apart from the nearby Fastnet Rock, has been the site of a bird observatary since 1959. This account of the island, its flora and fauna, its inhabitants and history, is weighted in favour of the birds but this is, perhaps, inevitable since the island offers so much of exceptional ornithological interest. Even so, a glance at the book's contents will show the wide range covered - from Killer Whales to the rare Kerry Slug and the Lusitanian flora that south-west Ireland shares with Iberia. Anyone with a general interest in natural history will find chapters an a variety of topics, each written by an acknowledged expert. The authors' enthusiasm for their subjects is always apparent; some sections are light-hearted but scientific accuracy is always maintained. For the bird-watcher the book, like the island, is rich in fascinating material - not least the detailed list of species (accampanied by many maps and a unique set of more than 130 histograms), sections on sea-watching and seabird studies, and an account of the ornithological year. The observatory has made important contributions to migration studies and, although it is perhaps best known as a vantage point for the study of some of Europe's largest sea bird movements, the island also receives many rarities and vagrants, from Asia and America as well as Europe. To whet the reader's appetite, Robert Gillmor's characteristically evocative pen-and-ink illustrations are liberally mingled with the text. Those who already know the island's varied charms will have memories reawakened by this eminently readable book - those who have yet to visit this unique yet accessible place will surely be enticed to do so.