Colophon

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 appearing on the cover of MySQL in a Nutshell is the pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis). At 80 grams and 28 centimeters in length, the pied kingfisher is the largest bird in the world capable of a true hover in still air. Like most kingfishers, it hunts small fish from a perch or by hovering over open water. But unlike others, the pied kingfisher often travels up to three miles from land. While the closely related giant kingfisher relies heavily on shoreline perching places, the pied kingfisher can hover above choppy water and swallow its prey on the wing. For this adaptive skill, the pied kingfisher is consider the most advanced of the 87 kingfisher species.

Pied kingfishers are common and widespread across much of Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and are easily distinguishable from other kingfishers by their unique black and white markings. Never far from water, pied kingfishers breed in burrows excavated into riverbanks. These birds form family groups, with the previous season's offspring often helping to raise their parents' next brood. Additional male helpers may also contribute food depending on their availability. If food is scarce, the breeding male feeds its mate, while helpers feed both parents and chicks after hatching. Helpers may thus increase their chances of mating with a nesting female the following year.

Although kingfishers are known for their fishing skills, many kingfishers don't eat fish at all; among those that do, less than half of all dives are successful. kingfishers are apparently blind under water, so their survival depends on perfect aim from above. They are able to judge both the size and depth of fish swimming below-the two greatest factors in determining a likely and rewarding catch. The instant a kingfisher hits water, opaque, protective third eyelids called nictitating membranes cover the eyes. More than a few hungry kingfishers have been seen emerging with stones in their bills. Still, among piscivorous birds, the kingfisher has earned its name justly.

Sarah Sherman was the production editor and proofreader, and Audrey Doyle was the copyeditor for MySQL in a Nutshell . Adam Witwer and Mary Anne Weeks Mayo provided quality control. Lydia Onofrei provided production assistance. Lucie Haskins wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Joe Wizda to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. This colophon was written by Lydia Onofrei.

The online edition of this book was created by the Digital Books production group (John Chodacki, Ken Douglass, and Ellie Cutler) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, Ellie Cutler, and Jeff Liggett.