XForms Essentials

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animal on the cover of XForms Essentials is a vulturine guineafowl (Acryillium vulturinum). This African family of birds belongs to the same order as chachalacas, chickens, curassows, grouse, guans, hoatzins, mesites, partridges, pheasants, quail, and turkeys. Sometimes called the Royal guinea fowl-as the tallest and most colorful species-the Vulturine guinea fowl earned the name because of its vulture-like head and neck. In contrast, its plumage sports black and white dots and stripes on a background of lilac and cobalt blue.

Vulturine guinea fowl breed well, with a clutch of 4-8 eggs, laying several clutches if the eggs disappear. After the eggs hatch, the male feeds and protects the chicks for the first few days.

Vulturine guinea fowl thrive in the heat and bright sun of eastern Africa, spending their days foraging primarily in open dry scrublands for grasses, leaves, and other green vegetation. This diet provides them with nearly all of the moisture they require, letting them survive for long periods without water. These tall birds-24 inches (60 centimeters)-are easily spotted walking through the brush, usually in flocks of 20-25, but regularly seen in flocks of 70. In the right conditions they will consume enormous quantities ...