This book discusses all of the world's nearly 100 species of obligatory brood parasites - those birds that reproduce only by laying their eggs in the nests of other species - and the ecological and evolutionary aspects of this remarkable behavioural adaptation.

This book discusses all of the world's nearly 100 species of obligatory brood parasites--those birds that reproduce only by laying their eggs in the nests of other species--and the ecological and evolutionary aspects of this remarkable behavioral adaptation.

'...Nowhere else can such a rich and useful compendium be found between two covers...No other source provides so much information about the basic biolgoy of so many brood parasites.'