Book Reviews 633

open to the criticism of narrowness of view; I should have liked to have seen considerably more discussion and comparison of the differences and similarities between ecologically similar species in different parts of the world.

A further (minor) criticism of the contents is not that any topic in particular is missing, but that they appear in a somewhat quirky order. Thus Habitats and Community Ecology precede Behavior, Acti- vity Rhythms and Spacing, and Dispersal, which are followed by other ecological topics such as Parasites, Predation and Population Dynamics. These in turn are followed by Management and Control, then by chapters on physiological aspects; the final chapter is on genetics. Tamarin provides no explanation in the Introduction for his choice of order of chapters, and a more logical thread from one section to the next would have been more pleasing. A rather fuller Introduction, describing the topics to be covered, why each might be considered important, and generally synthesizing the many and varied contributions, would also have been helpful.

Several chapters are of particular interest to students of animal behaviour and to behavioural ecologists. The chapter entitled 'Behavior' by Jerry Wolff considers non-social as well as social beha- viour, including in the latter category Mating Systems, Social Structure, Copulatory Behavior, Olfactory and Auditory Communication and Ago- nistic Behavior. Given this very wide range of topics, I should like to have seen a much longer chapter (or perhaps several, covering each of these topics in turn), with a more complete coverage of the published literature; at least one species of North American Microtus, whose behaviour and social organization have been specifically studied, is not mentioned at all. 'Activity Rhythms and Spacing' are rather strangely combined in a chapter by Dale Madison, but the coverage of both topics is excellent and comprehensive. This is a chapter in which both New and Old World Microtus are profitably discussed together. Bill Lidicker covers Dispersal fully, and his contribution leads natur- ally to those chapters that are more ecological than behavioural; small mammal ecology is intimately linked with social behaviour and organization, and the chapters on population dynamics and genetics in particular both refer to the role that spacing behaviour may play in the regulation of vole numbers.

In conclusion, my main feeling about the book is that, because it sets out to cover the whole of these animals' biology, there are some important topics that readers of Animal Behaviour might like to have seen covered more fully; because it restricts itself to North American species, much valuable informa-

tion that might also have usefully been included has been left out. That said, I am sure that this book will remain an extremely valuable and comprehen- sive component of the review literature of mam- malian biology for many years.

Jo GIPPS Kingston Polytechnic Computer Centre, Kingston Polytechnic, Kingston-upon- Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE, U.K.

In the Company of Animals. By JAMES SERPELL. Oxford: Blackwell (1986). Pp. vii+217. Price s

There is very little about non-human animal beha- viour in this book, but a great deal about human beings. Humans, furthermore, in a context at once familiar and yet unusual. We are surrounded by pets and other domestic animals but, as Serpell points out, there has been very little serious study of our relationship to these companions. At times I found the psychology a little superficial but this is nevertheless a very good book, full of value, interest and, in fact, genuine entertainment, for there are on offer many human follies concerning our pets.

One of the most important things Serpell does is to collect together evidence from history and from other cultures and he thereby dispels a number of myths, particularly about pet keeping. For exam- ple, pets are not just a rich nation's foible. People from almost every culture keep animals with them. Hunter-gatherers, pastoralists or farmers, no mat- ter how poor materially, dote upon a variety of birds and mammals, especially cats, dogs and pigs, which are often suckled at the human breast along with numerous human progeny. Glib explanations of pets as child substitutes or surrogate human companions, for the socially inept simply will not work as generalizations across the board. Clearly pets are sometimes child substitutes. (Although how about the Texan lady who, when her Rott- weiler killed and ate her young child, protested against the dog's destruction: 'I can always have another baby, but I can't replace my dog Byron'.) Clearly, also, there are many lonely people for whom a pet animal is the closest friend and companion. Serpell discusses a number of recent studies, only now beginning to emerge from the realms of anecdote, which suggest that if pets are around, old people are healthier and more active, prisoners are less violent and patients recover better from heart attacks. Animals, like children, act as catalysts in social interactions, especially in tense situations, and there would seem to be a

634 Animal Behariour, 35, 2

reasonable prospect for serious use of PAT (pet- assisted therapy).

The ethological points that can be made are relatively familiar. Cats and dogs are pre-adapted to make easy contact with us if we adopt them early enough. Serpell correctly lays emphasis on the exchange of touch and of gaze, real eye contact, which both human and pet find rewarding and do so much to establish the bond of affection. It is of great interest that eye contact is mutually under- stood between these carnivores and ourselves, both as a channel of affection and hostility.

Serpell begins his book by contrasting the often obsessive care we give to pets with the offhand deprivation and stress which we inflict on those lesser breeds without the law, especially cattle, pigs and chickens. Not many pet lovers are also vegetar- ians on principle. Serpell regards this contrast as a great paradox of human values, but surely such a blend of denial, self-deception and hypocrisy is all too common in our affairs.

There are strong elements of this blend in our attitudes towards conservation. Thus, in general, we support the idea whilst simultaneously striving to increase our material prosperity using methods that exploit and will eventually destroy our en- vironment. Perhaps, the ultimate test of our inter- action with other animals is whether we can live in a sustainable balance with them across the planet. Serpell discusses this question in his final chapter and suggests that in the warm bond between us and our companion animals we have a model to reveal the emptiness of ideas of human superiority and domination. The dominion of humanity can give way to stewardship and balance.

Well, maybe; I wish it could be so. Since this book's clear and attractive style will make it readily accessible to the general public, it comes at a good time when we most urgently need to rethink our relationship to the rest of the natural world.

AUBREY MANNING Department of Zoology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, U.K.

Measuring Behaviour. An Introductory Guide. By PAUL MARTIN t~ PATRICK BATESON. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press 0986). Pp. x + 200. Price s (hardback), s (paper- back).

If students writing up their first short project reports feel that they would like to start the whole thing again to get some really believable data, you can be sure that they have learned something. But it

is clearly inefficient to use discovery learning (the deep end method) as the only way of training researchers in animal behaviour. If those first experiments are to be something more than the first errors in a protracted trial and error learning process, then raw behaviour recruits, either at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, need some kind of briefing on how to undertake a scientific investigation.

Measuring Behaviour: An Introductory Guide, by Paul Martin & Pat Bateson, is a book which provides such a briefing, indeed it seems to have grown from a course of notes given to undergra- duate students being initiated into the mysteries and disciplines of animal behaviour study. It leads the reader through the various stages of a research project, from choosing your animal, designing an experiment and experimental programme, record- ing the behaviour, to the statistical analysis of the data. At each stage the major pot holes and hurdles are pointed out and suggestions made on how to overcome them.

To the experienced researcher, most of the points raised are familiar, but they proclaim good basic ethological values and ones that even veterans do well to keep in mind. Consequently, you may be led to compare the standard of your own experimental work with the virtuous ways expounded in this book. As I read, I sometimes felt as though I was filling in a magazine self-assessment questionnaire to test my index of selfishness, sexism or whatever. Do you, for example, check whether you have sufficient data by dividing it into halves and calculating the correlation between the two? I was relieved to read in Chapter 7 (Field studies) that field workers often have to compromise between the ideal and the practicable, and in Chapter 9 (Statistics and data analysis) that all too often we have to make use of Ns of less than 10.

The aim of the book is to give simple but important messages in a simple, economical way. It therefore has the virtue of being relatively brief and therefore, in paperback at least, cheap. The style of the text is orderly and very clearly stated but, with the messages almost completely unsupported by examples and the remnants of a lecturing style still discernible, I felt the prose might have benefited from being a bit more lively on occasions. This feeling was strongest when the point being made was of a more basic or homespun type: find out if the species you propose to study is tolerant of humans; observer reliability drops off if the obser- vation period is too long. This is, of course, very important advice to give to a beginner, but most of the points are more substantial and are often aimed at unmasking misconceptions: there is no funda- mental distinction between experimental and