The Life of the Robin

David Lack, FRS (1910–1973) has been called Britain's most influential ornithologist. Amongst other achievements he developed what is now known as Lack's Principle which explained the evolution of avian clutch sizes in terms of individual selection as opposed to the competing contemporary idea that they had evolved for the benefit of species (also known as group selection); this has been considered a major development in Darwinian evolution His pioneering life-history studies of the living bird helped in changing the nature of ornithology from what was then a collection-oriented field. He was a longtime director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the University of Oxford.

Introduction xiii
Preface 1
Preface to fourth edition 4
Note to this edition 7
1 My Robins 9
2 Song 23
3 The Red Breast 36
4 Fighting 47
5 The formation of pairs 59
6 Courtship 71
7 Nest, eggs, and young 81
8 Migration 103
9 Age 119
10 Food, feeding, and being fed upon 131
11 The significance of territory 142
12 Adventures with a stuffed robin 158
13 Recognition 170
14 Tameness 181
15 A digression upon instinct 191
16 Forest robins 202
Epilogue 220
Postscript 1: in David lack’s footsteps,
by David Harper 223
Postscript 2: The life of ‘the life of the robin’,
by Peter Lack 235
References and notes 249
Index 277