BRITISH TITS. By Christopher M. Perrins. New Naturalist No. 62.

(1979) 1980 reprint. 8vo (152 x 222mm). Pp304. B/w plates and illustrations, maps and bibliography. Green cloth, spine titled in gilt.

"Because of their ubiquity and apparent boldness, the tits are among the most easily observed, and the most popular, of all British birds. ...Curiously, little has been written about tits for the general naturalist. In this book, Christopher Perrins ...sets out to remedy this omission. ...The book deals with seven species of tit. these include, the six members of the true tits - coal, Great, Blue, Crested, Marsh and Willow Tits - as well as the more distantly related Long-tailed Tit. In addition to dealing with the general biology and behaviour of the birds, Dr. Perrins gives full attention to such things as their social lives, their intelligence and adaptiveness, and ther puzzling ability to adjust their population sizes to the future availability of food. [This] study demonstrates that there is much unsuspected complexity - some of it still not clearly understood - in the lives of even the most popular of groups of birds".