The Secret Life of Birds, By Colin Tudge

There is a problem holding back any would-be Icaruses – we would need a keel of two metres protruding from our chests to anchor the necessary muscles. Such fascinating nuggets fill this book. Colin Tudge discusses how brilliant birds are, what they do, how they exist at all, how they have sex. There's also a lot about feathers.

Yet Tudge confesses that he is no expert on birds, and admits that the seeds of this book grew only after his pal Barrie said that he didn't want to know about trees (the subject of Tudge's previous book) but about birds.

The author asks some broad questions, but his insights can be so obvious that this reader's feathers couldn't help but be ruffled. For example: "Flight, indeed, is the key to birds."

In places, the material does not lift off the page. But birds from the small finch to the huge Australian wedge- tailed eagle flutter throughout the pages, which are scattered with elegant illustrations by Jane Milloy, sparking the imagination and ensuring one's eyes are more alert to our feathered friends. Yet, it isn't the facts but the remaining mystery of birds which most enchants.