This book provides a comprehensive knowledge on Hill Mynahs. The information written in this book is not only the description of the species, but some concepts in avian biology and animal ecology are also neatly introduced. The organization of this book is excellent. It is started with the basic explanation on the topography and climate of Thailand in where most of studies of this species took place. The reason of why studying this species is important is introduced within this chapter.

The following chapter then provides the description of the species, including their phylogenetic up to subspecies. Brief description on their general behavior, breeding and their habitats are also provided within this chapter. The habitat required for nesting is discussed in chapter 3 that includes tree characteristic that contributes to the breeding success of the Hill Mynah. A description of foraging and roosting habitats are also briefly provided in this chapter.

The next chapters discuss the variations in Hill Mynah populations. In chapter 4, morphological adaptation of the Hill Mynah to geographical variation in Thailand from 33 provinces is discussed. In particular, the correlation between the external features of the Hill Mynah morphology with the climate of their habitat is highlighted in this chapter. Chapter 5 discuss how variation in geography shaped the body size and external feature i.e. yellow wattle in Hill Mynah. Thailand is the location where the habitats of two subspecies of Hill Mynahs converge, known as an intermediate zone or contact zone. How distribution of sub group changed along years or how the hybridization shifted is carefully described in this chapter. The subsequent chapter highlights the genetic variation and hybridization in five different hill mynah groups. The chapter 7 is a small chapter. The population dynamics and demographic changes result in morphological changes within a population is specifically provided in this chapter.

The introduction of various signals use for communication in animal can be found in chapter 8. Further, how the dominancy relates to reproductive success is discussed in this chapter, that continued by the study case of whether the variations in the external features had any positive bearing on the survival and opportunity for this species to breed in the natural environment.

The subsequent chapters provide comprehensive information on breeding biology of the species. Started in chapter 9 by providing the information on the reproductive biology and nesting success of the Hill Mynah. This chapter rich with illustrations and table to assist the reader. The habitat fragmentation, including its effect on bird’s behavior and nesting success, is provided in chapter 10. Chapter 11 and 12 provide excellent knowledge on mating system, reproductive behavior and parental care of tropical bird species, exemplifies by the Hill mynah. Since most studies on mating systems, parental care of passerines conducted in temperate, this study is one of few studies about evolutionary selection considering the reproductive fitness of tropical bird species.

The later chapters in this book focus on conservation effort to preserve Hill Mynah in captivity. Conservation efforts can be burden by the ability to distinguish the sex of monomorphic bird, such as the Hill mynah. Chapter 13 provides guidance for some methods, from the simple to the advance method, namely laparotomy, pelvis feature, sex hormones, blood composition, sex chromosomes, molecular sexing that can be used to determine their sex. In chapter 14, the reader is provided by the careful explanation on why captive breeding is needed for this species. This is a beautiful chapter with plenty of illustrations. Following information given in the previous chapters, chapter 15 focus on the health maintenance of the captive Hill Mynah. There are three foci in this chapter which are ectoparasites, endoparasites and the standard values for blood for evaluating general health and analyzing pathological condition in Hill Mynah. The last chapter of this book is about the vocal mimicry in the species. It is started with the brief introduction on communication among social animals, then following by specific communication in birds. Factors associated with vocal mimicry of Hill Mynah such as stimulation of vocal mimicry and social dominance are provided in this last chapter.

One thing that I really like for this book is it is written in an easy language, which is so helpful for those with English not as their first language. Furthermore, the author generously provides the reader with plenty of illustrations, either in form of tables, figures, photos and even in hand drawing illustrations. Such way that really help the reader to obtain a comprehensive understanding regarding the Hill Mynah. Since most of book references on avian biology are written based on studies conducted in temperate system, this book serves as a good source for the tropic system. As a lecturer in ornithology and animal ecology, I would love to have this book as one of my book references for teaching.