Our aim in this book is to introduce university students to research on nervous systems that is directly relevant to animal behaviour, and to do so at a level that assumes no detailed knowledge of neurophysiology. Many topics that fall within the scope of neurobiology are omitted or passed over lightly, and attention is concentrated on particular examples that illustrate clearly how the activity of nerve cells is linked with animal behaviour. Since the first edition was published, many new books on neurobiology have appeared, but most concentrate on the cellular and physiological aspects of the nervous system. By reviewing some of the modern stories in neuroethology, we hope that this book will also be useful to postgraduate students and others who wish to learn something of the way in which behaviour is controlled.

Each major topic in Chapters 3–9 is dealt with as far as possible by introducing a particular type of behaviour and then working towards a description of how nerve cells control it. We have selected subjects from studies in which the links between nerve cells and animal behaviour are particularly clear. In doing this,w e hope to illustrate the principles that have been revealed in modern research in neuroethology. Inevitably, there are many interesting stories that we have not been able to touch upon.

Readers who are familiar with the first edition of the book will notice several changes in content and arrangement. The final two chapters, on circuits of nerve cells and on plasticity in behaviour, are completely new.