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This chapter examines the taxonomic relationships of the genus Passer, as well as the species boundaries of the House Sparrow with particular reference to the taxonomic position of the “Italian” Sparrow (a well-marked population thought to be the result of hybridization between House Sparrows and Spanish Sparrows). The geographic distribution of the House Sparrow is also described, including the history of introductions of the species. The rate of range expansion following introductions is also discussed.

This chapter considers patterns of evolution in exotic bird populations. Evidence is presented that exotic birds have evolved in their phenotypes over the relatively short time spans in which they have been established in their new locations. Some of the shifts observed are entirely consistent with macroevolutionary patterns observed amongst native bird species; others are more curious and require reconsideration of some long-held views of evolutionary dynamics. The chapter notes the great potential for research on the evolution of exotic birds to provide insight into basic evolutionary theory and the role of evolution in the impacts of all invasive species.

This essay contributes to ongoing scholarly debate about the concepts of diegetic and nondiegetic music renewed by Robynn Stillwell’s proposal of a “fantastical gap.” More specifically, the author interrogates Ben Winters’ notion of a “nondiegetic fallacy” wherein Winters asserts that the viewer’s comprehension of manifestly unrealistic elements in cinema apply equally to consideration of the soundtrack. Rather than assume a priori that music belongs to a register external to the diegesis, we should consider the possibility that music has an ontological existence in each film’s peculiar universe irrespective of whether the characters within that world can hear it. Although the “nondiegetic fallacy” seems defensible from an ontological perspective, the author contends that Winters neglects the “principle of minimal departure,” an axiom used to explain why viewers assume certain continuities between their real-world experience and the fictional worlds they encounter. Without this heuristic, viewers would be unable to comprehend any cinematic fiction insofar as they’d have to track a potentially limitless set of questions about the way each unique filmic universe operates. This chapter also argues that Winters’s nondiegetic fallacy ignores music’s role as part of an integrated soundtrack. As shown in an analysis of The Fallen Sparrow, the premises of the nondiegetic fallacy apply equally to offscreen or subjective sound. By examining the vococentric nature of the soundtrack and its attendant principles of maximal sonic clarity, the author defends the utility of the diegetic/nondiegetic distinction by showing its necessity to spectators’ comprehension of film characters’ actions and motivations.

Focusing on Atomic Blonde and Red Sparrow, the chapter explores the familiar forms of dehumanization invoked to reinforce the inherent othering of the rival nation, as well as how Hollywood interpolates the ostensibly progressive image of the self-reliant female action hero in working to shore up perceptions of institutions such as the CIA (with its long and ongoing record of collusion with some of the most reactionary militant and political groups across the globe). The chapter examines these two films within the context of the broader resurgence of Cold War imagery and ideology in contemporary Hollywood.

The chapter claims that it is uncertain whether Hollywood will address the Trump era’s ideological unorthodoxies. The Shape of Water’s magical realist narrative avoids critique of the Realpolitik central to Trump’s statecraft. It instead adopts a stance of anti-McCarthy liberalism by embracing the Russian other, averting the liberal antipathy towards modern Russia lampooned by the pro-Trump “Alt Right.” Red Sparrow also declines to interrogate the recent changes wrought to East-West relations. The film avoids invoking the current state of U.S.-Russia relations and even refuses to reference Vladimir Putin. Evaluating these two disparately received films, the chapter argues that the ideal cinematic representation of Cold War II has yet to arrive, and is precluded from doing so because of bewildering new ideological reconfigurations. Concluding with a reflection on the impact of Black Panther (2018), the chapter posits that allegory might be the most probable method of addressing new International Relations dynamics.

The chapter examines Red Sparrow as commentary on current U.S. politics. In a time when traditional identity values are at stake, the two current governments of Russia and the U.S both operate at the expense of the individual. As a second Cold War film, Red Sparrow acts a mirror, manipulating American fascination with Russia to direct Americans’ gaze at themselves. In the process, the film evokes a reevaluation of how Americans maintain traditionally held values, including concepts of duty and patriotism, even if that loyalty demands contesting America’s own corruption. Thus, this chapter argues that Red Sparrow compels its viewers to reevaluate their values in light of how the new Cold War is being fought: not conventionally, but on a much more personal level compelling individual choice.

This chapter focuses on “exaggerated” national allegories and on cases where the image of the nation oscillates between metaphors of male and female, domination and subjugation, offense and defense. Imagining the Egyptian nation as male in the face of a female West can certainly unfold an “empowering” effect if understood in Bill Nichols' sense, namely as “wish-fulfillment.” In general female-nation narratives such as The Sparrow the role of the threatened woman usually called for a man in the role of savior. Nasser's cinematic image got constructed through the explicit insistence on difference between self and other, nation and colonial power, male and female, galvanizing moments of defense and offense at the same time.

This chapter narrates the author's trip to western North Dakota's Bakken region, where he was mapping out habitat fragmentation caused by the recent surge in oil development. The research was really just an excuse to go out birding for a few days. Two birds are confined to the northern mixed-grass prairie: the Baird's sparrow and the Sprague's pipit. Both are small, brown birds, not terribly charismatic — what birders call LBJs or “little brown jobs” — and both are declining in population. The chapter then discusses how oil development occurs with seeming abandon in the Bakken and is only lightly regulated. Despite a history of progressivism and socialism in the American prairies, North Dakota today is essentially a one-party state — an explicitly oil-friendly Republican Party has held the governorship and both houses of the state legislature for years. Unlike resistance in parts of the East Coast, there have been no large-scale protests in North Dakota, save resistance to the pipeline by the Standing Rock reservation.

This chapter discusses a miniature cycle by Kate Romano. In Who Killed Cock Robin? Romano sets the six verses of a much-loved nursery rhyme with consummate flair, writing for soprano with innate understanding and an acute ear for timbre. In addition, the composer makes particularly astute use of the upper register’s natural flexibility. The words prove an ideal vehicle for imaginative expansion and embellishment: oft-repeated words suggest witty simulations of bird calls, in a dazzling range of figurations. Contrast is supplied by legato writing, especially in the second and fifth stanzas. It is only in the last verse that the lowest note occurs—the highest comes amongst the smoothly sliding lines of the fifth verse. Piano parts, skilfully tailored to each vocal setting, are nimble and varied, often exploiting higher resonances to complement the voice.

In 1958, there was a nationwide killing of sparrows. An official directive was issued in 1958 by the Chinese government which stated that the whole nation was to stop work for three days to take part in a campaign to kill all the sparrows in the country. They had caused the famine in the country and it was decided that they must be annihilated. The whole city of Beijing was on the alert. In October 1957, the Draft Programme of Agricultural Development was revised and called the “40 Clauses.” It explicitly stated that starting from 1958, in five, seven, or twelve years, China must basically in all possible places annihilate all rats, sparrows, flies, and mosquitoes. This chapter states that during the Great Leap Forward Period of the late 1950s, everyday the newspapers were full of ludicrous stories. It was a time when man's actions were not governed by rationalism but by insanity.

This chapter provides a historical background of Massachusetts's prairies followed by a list of prairies by county. Each site is briefly described, followed by symbols showing site features, a brief location, and a phone number. Massachusetts is home to the critically imperiled sandplain grassland that supports prairie forbs and grasses including purple needlegrass, purple milkweed, eastern silvery aster, Commons' panic grass, birdfoot violet, and New England blazing star. The state's grasslands support several species of rare or declining butterflies, short-eared owls, grasshopper sparrows, and northern harriers, which feed on meadow voles and other resident rodents. Massachusetts's rare prairie species are believed to be remnants of the vast prairie that once stretched almost to the Atlantic Ocean during the hot, arid Hypsithermal Interval (Xerothermic period) between about 3,000 and 8,000 years ago.

Successful movement between isolated habitat patches may be necessary for sensitive bird populations to remain viable in the face of habitat loss and fragmentation from urbanization. We investigated post-fledging movements of four species in relation to land-cover patterns at various spatial scales across the urban gradient of the Seattle (USA) metropolitan area from 2003 to 2005. Juvenile birds varied among species in their mobility and sensitivity to different land-cover types. More impervious developed areas had more consistently negative effects on juvenile mobility than less impervious developed areas, but these effects varied with species and scale. We suggest urban-growth strategies that focus on maximizing the amount of forest cover and minimizing the amount of impervious urban cover.

In later life This chapter presents an update on a long-term research program examining the rules that young song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) use to decide which songs to learn, retain, and later use, and the role that the social ecology of song sparrows has played in shaping these rules. The strategy of song learning in song sparrows and the mechanisms of song communication between neighboring adult males are shaped by cognitive factors at the proximate level and variables in the species' social ecology at the ultimate level. The chapter presents an argument around the fact that a cognitive ecology perspective captures the key features of song learning and song communication in this species, and will probably do so as well in other species of songbirds. The authors find that understanding the song-learning process may ultimately be the key to understanding why it is that song learning in one life stage parallels song communication stages.

After World War II, the increased availability of radioisotopes, nuclear reactors, and other radiation-generating technologies associated with the production and study of nuclear energy—and the willingness of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to fund research relying on these technologies—generated renewed interest in radiation-induced mutation as a means of plant breeding. This chapter, the first of Part 3, introduces several biologists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory as key actors in this revival. In the late 1940s, the geneticist W. Ralph Singleton and the cytologist Arnold Sparrow along with other members of the Brookhaven Biology Department began exploring new experimental tools for investigating the effects of radiation on plants. One such tool was a “gamma field” where growing plants were continuously exposed to gamma radiation emitted by the radioisotope cobalt-60. This and other irradiation facilities would by the early 1950s be advanced as tools of potential interest to plant breeders, an agenda that aligned well with the Atomic Energy Commission’s interest in promoting so-called peaceful uses of atomic energy. The chapter also introduces “large technological systems” and “technopolitics” as concepts that help to explain the flourishing of the Brookhaven radiation-induced mutation research program and subsequent resurgent interest in mutation breeding.

Treating an imaging system as a linear system and use llinear system properties to d iscuss both coherent and incoherent imaging. Use a one dimensional pin hole camera to study the theory of incoherent imaging. Two different criteria, Rayleigh and Sparrow, are used to define the resolution limits of the camera. From the simple theory define the optical transfer function and the modulation transfer function as appropriate characterizations of complex imaging systems. A review of the human imaging system emphasizes tits idfferences with man made cameras. Coherent imaging is based on Abbe’s theory of microscopy. A simple 4f imaging system can be used to understand how spatial resolution is limited by the optical aperture and by controlling the aperture, we can enhance the edges of an image or remove noise intensity noise on a plane wave. Apodizing the aperture allows astronomers to locate planents orbiting distant stars.

Several species of small seed-eating farmland birds resident in Britain have shown marked population declines over the last 50 years. In most cases, shortage of food during winter and early spring has been implicated. However, some large seed-eating species have increased over the same period. This chapter explores the possible influence of two phenomena that have changed markedly over that period, which may have received insufficient research attention. The first is the increase in the release of captive-reared gamebirds by the commercial shooting industry, and the second is the loss of sources of small seeds at low spatial density, provided historically by weedy overwinter stubbles, and the increase in sources of larger seeds at high density, provided primarily by gamebird feed hoppers and game cover plots. The analyses suggests that the scale of gamebird release is such that the biomass of released gamebirds now greatly exceeds the combined autumn biomass of native seed-eating species, and changes in the density of pheasants Phasianus colchicus released annually show close temporal correspondence with the declines in small seed-eating birds. The chapter also suggests that weedy overwinter stubbles historically provided seeds at a density where small bird species could meet their daily food needs, but large species could not. The shift from low-density to high-density seed sources may have benefited large species to the detriment of small species. Conservation initiatives designed to provide small seeds at low spatial density might be effective in restoring the previous balance between small and large species.

Chapter 6 focuses on the rise of Brooklyn soca (soul/calypso), beginning with the story of the early Bronx-based independent record company Camille Records, before shifting to the three most important Brooklyn-based labels: Straker’s Records, Charlie’s Records, and B’s Records. These Caribbean-owned businesses, along with a cadre of influential calypso/soca singers and the music arrangers with whom they collaborated, played a crucial role in the evolution of modern calypso and soca music during the 1970s and 1980s. Brooklyn’s Labor Day celebration had been dominated by calypso from its inception. Indeed, calypso and the new variant soca (soul/calypso) were essential hallmarks of the festivities. Equally important, and concurrent with the rise of Brooklyn Carnival in the 1970s, was the borough’s emergence as a vital transnational center for the recording and production of calypso and soca music.

In contrast to García Márquez, Charles Bukowski stayed at home in Los Angeles and appeared strictly in small magazines, hundreds of them part of the mimeo mag revolution. Three entrepreneurs, John Bryan, John Martin, and Carl Weissner, figured out how to market him: Notes of a Dirty Old Man appeared from an “adult” press, then Black Sparrow published collectors’ editions, and Weissner found overseas markets, first in Germany, then in France. They pioneered “domesticating” translations, niche hand-selling, the foreign publicity tour, and outrageous TV appearances as sales tactics. Weissner epitomized the “discrepant awareness” needed to find parallel markets for literature in translation. But, as Wikipedia shows, France and Germany hold different conceptions of the author. A coda asks why Diane di Prima did not become similarly famous.

Birds are part of the special magic of grasslands. Birds such as McCown’s Longspurs (scientific names are given in the Appendix) or Horned Larks, which seem to disappear against the background of grass, soil, and stones when they are on the ground, launch breathtaking courtship flights punctuated by tinkling songs and mothlike flutterings. Male Lark Buntings, incongruously black and white (Fig. 9.1A) against the subdued tones of the grassland, may break into their morning territorial displays or gather together spontaneously in melodious group choruses. Mountain Plovers may burst from underfoot into utterly convincing broken-wing distraction displays. Ferruginous and other hawks (Fig. 9.1B) may suddenly plummet from the blue skies above. Sightings of relatively rare species such as Chestnut-collared Longspurs (Fig. 9.1C) may bring joy to dedicated bird-watchers. Birds give the shortgrass steppe an aura that Bouteloua alone cannot. Yet birds have not figured importantly in most discussions of grassland ecology. They are generally drab and brownish, so they have not attracted much attention from the general public, and their contributions to ecosystem production and energy flow are small, so they have not been of much interest to ecologists studying ecosystem processes. However, grassland birds are showing the most widespread and consistent population declines of any group of North American birds (Herkert, 1995; Knopf, 1994; Peterjohn and Sauer, 1999). As a consequence, they have become a focus of conservation concern (Brennen and Kulvesky, 2005; Vickery and Herkert, 2001). The history of ornithological research in the shortgrass steppe is closely intertwined with the broadly interdisciplinary work conducted during the IBP in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and more recently (since 1982) as part of the NSF LTER program. In this chapter we describe the birds of the shortgrass steppe and summarize pertinent research that has been conducted on them during the past 40+ years. Our aim is to synthesize this information to provide a perspective on how environmental factors may relate to population fluctuations, on spatiotemporal shifts in community composition, and on patterns of habitat occupancy among the birds of the shortgrass steppe. We conclude by noting some continuing research priorities that have become more critical as conservation concerns about these birds have heightened.

Although livestock are the most obvious consumers on the shortgrass steppe, they are certainly not the only consumers. However, livestock may influence the other consumers in a number of different ways. They may directly compete for food resources with other aboveground herbivores. There is behavioral interference between livestock and some species of wildlife (Roberts and Becker, 1982), but not others (Austin and Urness, 1986). The removal of biomass by livestock alters canopy structure (physiognomy) and influences microclimate. Bird, small-mammal, and insect species can be variously sensitive to these structural alterations (Brown, 1973; Cody, 1985; MacArthur, 1965; Morris, 1973; Rosenzweig et al., 1975; Wiens, 1969). There are both short- and long-term effects of grazing on plant community species composition, primary production, and plant tissue quality. Belowground consumers can also be affected by the effects of grazing on soil water infiltration, nutrient cycling, carbon allocation patterns of plants, litter accumulation, and soil temperature. The overall effects of livestock on a particular component of the native fauna can be negative or can be positive through facilitative relationships (Gordon, 1988). In this chapter we assess the effects of cattle grazing on other above- and belowground consumers, on the diversity and relative sensitivity of these groups of organisms, and on their trophic structure. We first present some brief background information on plant communities of the shortgrass steppe and on the long-term grazing treatments in which many of the studies reported herein were conducted. Details on the plant communities are presented by Lauenroth in chapter 5 (this volume), grazing effects on plant communities by Milchunas et al. in chapter 16 (this volume); and grazing effects on nutrient distributions and cycling by Burke et al. in chapter 13 (this volume). The physiognomy of the shortgrass steppe is indicated in its name. The dominant grasses (Bouteloua gracilis and Buchloë dactyloides), forb (Sphaeralcea coccinea), and carex (Carex eleocharis) have the majority of their leaf biomass within 10 cm of the ground surface. A number of less abundant midheight grasses and dwarf shrubs are sparsely interspersed among the short vegetation, but usually much of their biomass is within 25 cm of the g round. Basal cover of vegetation typically totals 25% to 35%, and is greater in long-term grazed than in ungrazed grassland. Bare ground (more frequent on grazed sites) and litter-covered ground (more frequent on ungrazed sites) comprise the remainder of the soil surface (Milchunas et al., 1989).