FLEAS, FLUKES and CUCKOOS: A STUDY OF BIRD PARASITES. By Miriam Rothschild and Theresa Clay. New Naturalist Monograph No. 7.

(1952) 1957 reprint. 8vo (152 x 222mm). Ppxiv,305. B/w photographs plates, b/w line illustrations, maps, bibliography. Green buckram, spine titled in gilt.

This is an extremely detailed survey by an enthusiast, well in the tradition of this excellent series. You will want to scratch while you're reading this book, and you will probably never handle a bird again, except with coal-tongs. British fresh water pearls are usually formed around bird parasites the authors tell us, very often nematodes and tape-worms. Cubic zirconium from now on then. Chapters include; parasitism; commensalism; symbiosis; the effect of parasites on the host; the effect of parasitism on the parasite; the origins of parasitism and the evolution of parasites; fleas; feather lice; protozoa; worms; flies; mites; micro-parasites; the fauna of birds' nests; skuas; the European cuckoo.