Colophon

The animals on the cover of Building Software Teams are three species of pipit: water, Richard’s, and tawny.

Pipits are slender songbirds who prefer open country. The genus is widespread, occurring across most of the world with the exception of the driest deserts, rainforests, and mainland Antarctica. Molecular studies of the pipits suggest that the genus arose in East Asia around seven million years ago and that the genus had spread to the Americas, Africa, and Europe between five and six million years ago.

The plumage of the pipit is generally drab and brown, buff, or faded white. The undersides are usually darker than the top, and there is a variable amount of barring and streaking on the back, wings, and breast. The mottled brown colors provide camouflage against the soil and stones of their environment. The pipit feeds primarily on insects, larvae, and plant matter (especially berries), by picking items from the ground or from low-lying vegetation as it walks. Pipits are monogamous and territorial. The nest tends to be situated on the side of a steep bank or in a hollow and is made from surrounding vegetation by the female. Females lay two clutches a year, consisting of 4 to 5 eggs, which are incubated for 15 to 16 days. The male and female both forage for their young and tend to feed them larger and slower arthropods that are easy to catch, in order to obtain the most food they can in the shortest amount of time.

Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world. To learn more about how you can help, go to animals.oreilly.com.

The cover image is from Lydekker’s Royal Natural History. The cover fonts are URW Typewriter and Guardian Sans. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.