More than an account of the behavior, food, and reproduction of frugivorous birds, The Web of Adaptataion is a thoughtful inquiry into the factors that have produced patterns of behavior that will appear strange to readers unfamiliar with tropical birds. This gracefully written and highly readable book contains much of interest to ecologists and evolutionists no less than to everyone desirous of broadening his or her view of the ways of life of the charming creatures that adorn our planet. - from new Foreword "It is always gratifying when a great scientist can write popularly about complex phenomena such as tropical birds, whose behavior and ecology differ in so many ways from the much more intensively studied birds of temperate areas. Snow describes how tremendous numbers of tropical species - and the unique natural areas they inhabit - are being irreparably destroyed by deforestation." - Library Journal