426 
THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 124. No. 2. June 2012 
link is difficult to find from the main page (www. 
crossleybooks.com). appearing as a text link in the 
upper right side of the “expanded captions’ plates 
page. One additional error that 1 found was the 
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colu- 
bris) labeled as an immature female is actually an 
adult female as evidenced by the apparent moll on 
the crow n (likely photographed in August), the lack 
of buff-fringing on the upperparts, and the worn 
white tips on the tail feathers. 
I recommend this book for the library of any 
birder, beginner, expert, or in between. There is 
certainly much more to like about this book than 
there is to dislike. Beginners may struggle with the 
overwhelming information and may be misled by 
some of the photographs and sparseness of 
identification information in the text, but with 
effort it can be very rewarding and improve their 
birding skills. Beginners may still want to bring 
another more portable guide with them in the field. 
Experts will be rewarded by the wealth of images 
contained in the magnificent dioramas on each 
page, making this book an essential addition to 
their bird library, but they may not find all the. 
answers for the lough identification challenges. 
Everyone in between will likely find much new 
information that could truly help make them better 
birders. But as with any identification guide 
innovation, the definitive review of the effective¬ 
ness ol The Cro.ssley ID Guide cannot be written 
until birders ot all levels of expertise have actually 
used the book over the course of months, or 
even years.—ALLEN T. CH ARTIER. 1442 West 
River Park Drive. Inkster, MI 48141. USA; 
e-mail: amazilia3@gmai 1 .com 
HOW FAST CAN A FALCON DIVE? By 
Peter Capainola and Carol A. Butler. Rutgers 
University Press. Piscataway, New Jersey, USA. 
2010: 220 pages, 33 figures, and 19 color plates. 
ISBN: 978-0-8135-4790-9. S21.95 (paperback).— 
Peter Capainola and Carol Butler present this 
sufficiently researched general introduction to 
birds of prey in an organized and approachable 
question and answer format. Capainola is senior 
scientific assistant in the Department of Ornithol¬ 
ogy at the American Museum of Natural History in 
New York City, adjunct faculty member in the 
Department of Biology at the City College of the 
City University of New York, and research 
associate and member of (he board of trustees of 
the Long Island Natural History Museum. Butler is 
a licensed psychoanalyst and mediator in private 
practice, an adjunct assistant professor at New 
York University in the Department of Applied 
Psychology, and a docent at the American Museum 
of Natural History. The book is broad in scope 
addressing 85 specific questions in five chapters 
dealing w'lth raptor biology and four chapters on 
aspects of husbandry, falconry, and raptor conser¬ 
vation. The questions in each chapter address those 
of greatest interest to the average reader and can be 
thoroughly answered in —1.000 words or less. 
Interspersed are 13 brief essays which anchor the 
questions around a central topic of biology, story, 
or a personal experience of Capainola. 
The book’s first half is devoted to raptor 
biology, addressing taxonomic classification of 
the five to seven families of flesh-eating birds that 
include eagles, hawks, falcons, ospreys, vultures, 
and owls. A brief essay by Alan Turner, research 
associate, American Museum of Natural History, 
and assistant professor at Stony Brook University 
describes recent findings in the evolutionary 
relationship of dinosaurs and raptors. The evolu¬ 
tion of feathers preceded the evolution of birds: 
this is well-illustrated in a figure showing feather 
quill attachment sites on the fossil ulna of the 
carnivorous dinosaur Velocioraptor. Chapter 1 
orients the reader to the major taxonomic groups 
of raptors, covering a range of life history traits, 
including the structural differences between 
lalcons and hawks, diet and hunting, and finishing 
with referenced material on the smallest and 
largest raptor species, and life spans. 
Chapters 2 and 3 describe raptor physiology 
and behavior with frequent references to current 
research. The questions, “How fast can a raptor 
fly?” and ‘“How far can a raptor fly?" are 
effectively anchored by brief essays on bird 
strikes and migration theory. The essay on bird 
strikes takes the reader back to January 2009 
when an Airbus 320 departing from New York’s 
La Guardia Airport lost all engine power after 
contact with a flock of Canada Geese (BranM 
canadensis), thus forcing an emergency-landing 
in the Hudson River. Current efforts to reduce the 
frequency of these accidents are described, 
including the use of trained falcons to harass 
and disperse birds at Kennedy Airport. The essay 
on migration theory reviews a March 2009 
international conference on animal migration, 
concluding that theoretical models need to be more 
flexible and user-friendly to accommodate the 
many variables affecting the animals' migration 
