ORNITHOLOGICAL LITERATURE 
419 
and necessity of technology for providing insight 
into secretive eagle lives (e.g,. radio tags on 
African Crowned Eagles, Stephanoaetus corona- 
tus) while others emphasize the important infor¬ 
mation that can be gained by simple observation 
with a good pair of binoculars (e.g., Rick Watson 
on the Bateleur. Terathopius ecaudatus). After a 
few chapters, the repeated translations between 
metric and English units, in which an originally 
rough estimate in one unit becomes translated to 
an absurdly precise one in the other system, 
become highly irritating. This one annoyance, 
however, can hardly reduce the significance of the 
essays as real insider's views to both the lives of 
and difficulties facing researchers and the eagle 
species. Chapters range from entirely hilarious 
imisjudgments regarding a canon net described by 
Alan Harmata, Chapter 7) to awkward (being the 
guest of honor at a circumcision ceremony. 
Chapter 12) to exhilarating near-disasters (being 
forced to join a weapons-bearing tribal exorcism 
on the cusp of initialing a violent war, Chapter 2). 
Befitting the authors' professions as observers in 
nature, much of the prose is as accurately 
descriptive as it is beautiful. 
Lying against the bark, I tried to catch my 
breath, clearing mossy dirt from my month and 
feeling the sweat begin to chill against my skin. 
The first blue hints of daylight drew cautious 
traces of bird song up through the mists. Dim 
shapes of trees slowly materialized from the 
predawn gloom, and beyond them the steep sides 
of the valley diffused from the sky. The fall of a 
neighboring tree had torn a great hole in the 
canopy, allowing me an uninterrupted view of a 
tangled platform of branches supported by a 
moss-fringed emergent limb. It was this that had 
brought me to such a remote corner of the Papuan 
Eastern Highlands: the nest of a New Guinea 
Harpy Eagle. 
-Martin Gilbert, Chapter 2 
For those of us who search out eagle sightings 
lor fun or work, study eagles remotely (i.e.. in the 
laboratory ), or just read and dream about them, 
these chapters give the eagles and those who work 
with them tangible character. A truly novel idea 
making for a captivating book. I hope to read 
more creative non-fiction from some of these 
authors and others who have dedicated their lives 
to studying some of the most elusive and cap¬ 
tivating species of the world.—HEATHER R. L. 
LERNER, Smithsonian Fellow. Smithsonian 
Conservation Biology Institute, Center for 
Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Na¬ 
tional Zoological Park. P. O. Box 37012, MRC 
5513. Washington, D.C. 20013, USA; e-mail: 
hlerner@gmail.com 
RAPTORS OF NEW MEXICO. Edited by Jean- 
Luc E. Cartron. University of New' Mexico Press, 
Albuquerque. USA, 2010: 710 pages, more than 
650 color photographs. 41 color range maps, eight 
black and while photographs, and 17 figures. 
ISBN: 978-0-8263-4145-7. $50.00 (hard cover).— 
Dr. Cartron enlisted 41 other raptor enthusiasts to 
help write this definitive volume on the diurnal and 
nocturnal raptors of New Mexico. Jean-Luc 
Cartron W'as bom and raised in France, where he 
earned a MD. After traveling the world, he ended 
up in New' Mexico and, for >10 years, has studied 
raptors and other birds there. He earned a Ph.D. in 
biology from the University of New Mexico and is 
now a research associate at that institution. 
The stated purpose of this book is to present 
information from a variety of sources, including 
publications, reports, field notes, etc., well 
augmented with photographs, maps, tables, and 
charts, to fully describe the raptors of New 
Mexico. This large format tome begins with a 
Foreword by Rich G1 inski, author of the Raptors 
of Arizona. Following the obligatory preface, 
acknowledgments, and table of contents are an 
Introduction and short chapters on raptor mor¬ 
phology (photographs with arrows pointing to the 
parts of raptors) and species distribution maps. 
Two introductory chapters discuss the State’s 
fioristic zones and vegetation cover, and raptor 
migration through the State. Both are covered 
well and in detail, the latter by raptor expert Jeff 
Smith, which includes many maps showing 
recoveries of banded raptors, charts and graphs 
showing timing of migration, and photographs of 
the raptors themselves. 
Next follows the species accounts, the heart of 
this book, which vary in length from 10 to 26 
pages. Each of the 37 species accounts (24 diurnal 
and 13 nocturnal raptors) is w'ritten by one to four 
coauthors (some by the editor himself) and starts 
with a full page color photograph of the species. 
Each account begins with a general description of 
that species, including plumage, taxonomy, sim¬ 
ilar species, vocalizations, etc., and continues with 
sections on distribution, habitat. life history, 
intraspecific interactions, predation and interspe¬ 
cific interactions, and status and management. 
