Programming C#, Third Edition

Colophon

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The animal on the cover of Programming C#, Third Edition, is an African crowned crane. This tall, skinny bird wanders the marshes and grasslands of west and east Africa (the Western and Eastern African crowned cranes, Balearica pavonia pavonia and Balearica regulorum gibbericeps, respectively).

Adult birds stand about three feet tall and weigh six to nine pounds. Inside their long necks is a five-foot long windpipe-part of which is coiled inside their breastbone-giving voice to loud calls that can carry for miles. They live for about 22 years, spending most of their waking hours looking for the various plants, small animals, and insects they like to eat. (One crowned crane food-finding technique, perfected during the 38 to 54 million years these birds have existed, is to stamp their feet as they walk, flushing out tasty bugs.) They are the only type of crane to perch in trees, which they do at night when sleeping.

Social and talkative, African crowned cranes group together in pairs or families, and the smaller groups band together in flocks of more than 100 birds. Their elaborate mating dance has served as a model for some of the dances of local people.

Linley Dolby was the production editor, and Sada Preisch was the proofreader for ...