NATURAL 

 HISTORY 



Vol. 103, No. 2, February 1994 



Cover: a. hawlcftsh hovers above an antler coral in 

 the sea near Maui. Slury on page 50. Photograph by 

 Andrew G. Wood; Photo Researchers, Inc. 



4 Nature's Infinite Book .lared Diamond 



Stinking Birds and Burning Books 



14 This View of Life Stephen Jay Gould 

 In the Mind of the Belwlder 



24 Science Lite Roger l. Weisch 



Astrophys Ed 



"^ 26 Fire, Ice, and Eagles Text and photographs by Alexander Ladigin 

 The American eagle's bigger cousin in Siberia has a taste for salmon, too. 



34 An UnSHAGGY Dog Story Alana Cordy-ColUns 



Twelve hundred years ago, traders from Ecuador may have introduced 

 a walking hot-water bottle to Peru. 



39 A Lethal Gene 

 42 Some Likje It Cold Bemd Heinrich 



Why would a moth choose to fly about on a winter day? 



50 The Case of the Missing Lobsters Jeffrey Poiovina 



Investigators solve a mystery in Hawaii by showing that no crime took place. 



60 Celestial Events Gaii s. cieere 



Baggitig the Little Green Man 



62 Reviews Steven Austad 

 Reflections on Slime 



66 At the American Museum of Natural History 



68 This Land Robert H. Mohlenbrock 

 Traverse Creek, California 



72 A Matter of Taste Raymond Sokoiov 



Through a Mill, Coarsely 



76 The Natural Moment Photographs by Michael S. Quintan 

 The Quick and the Dead 



78 Authors 



26 



