Stephen Moss - Do Birds Have Knees?: All Your Bird Questions Answered

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Bloomsbury Natural History
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This electronic edition published 2016 by Bloomsbury

First published 2016

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2016

Text Stephen Moss, 2016

Photographs as credited on

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ISBN: PB: 978-1-4729-3235-8

ePub: 978-1-4729-3236-5

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INTRODUCTION

Questions are a way of focusing our interest, but finding answers can be frustrating. Having spent much of my life fielding other peoples questions about birds, I had long yearned for an easy reference source that provided all the answers in a single place. Hence the simple question-and-answer format of this book, which allows any reader to get straight to the answer they want without becoming swamped by information they may not need.

I began the compilation process by collecting raw questions from a broad spectrum of people, including friends and family, beginners and experts, and the staff of my publishers, Bloomsbury. Some were fascinating, some ludicrous and some frankly unanswerable, but all played their part in revealing the kind of things that people would like to know about birds. If you were part of this process, I hope you will find your answer here and, with luck, a lot more besides.

The questions more than 500 in total are arranged in ten chapters, each tackling a major theme, such as feeding, breeding or migration. A comprehensive index helps you locate any question you want answered. Having done so, I hope you will be drawn further in, finding equally interesting answers on related topics, or simply reading onwards to gain a deeper insight into a particular subject.