Tae. Ge UUs BSOFNs BU bo EL HE Ti’ N 13 
Book Reviews 
HANDBOOK OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. Volume I—Loons through 
Flamingos. Edited by Ralph S. Palmer. Sponsored by the American Orni- 
thologists’ Union, The New York Museum, and Science Service. Yale 
University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1962. vii + 567 pp., 124 illus- 
trations, $15.00. 
I consider the Handbook to be one of the most monumental contributions 
to ornithological literature during the last decade. This, the first of a six 
or seven-volume work, is an attempt to present our current knowledge re- 
garding the avifauna north of Mexico. The following groups are covered in 
Volume I: Loons, grebes, albatrosses, petrels and their allies, herons and 
their allies, and flamingos. 
The Handbook attempts to characterize each species in nontechnical 
language as fully and clearly as possible. The information covers the fol- 
lowing: description, including range of variation, plumage stages, geo- 
graphic variations, and occurrence of hybrids; description of subspecies, 
giving diagnostic characteristics; field identification, including plumage 
features, flight, and other characteristics; description of voice, vocal and 
nonvocal sounds, calls, and songs; definition of habitat by vegetation type 
and immediate environment; distribution in breeding and other seasons; 
migration, with arrival and departure dates, and postbreeding movements; 
banding status; reproduction, including age when breeding begins, details of 
territorial and pair-formation behavior, and remainder of breeding cycle; 
survival data when obtainable; social, roosting, and feeding habits; foods 
eaten, proportions, and seasonal and geographic variations. 
In the scale attempted in the present work. at least the following are 
new to North American ornithology: a simplified and more universal color 
standard; the method of treating plumage and molts; fairly detailed range 
maps; inclusion of displays in context with other aspects of avian life 
cycles; and data on banding status and survival. This fine work will not 
only be of use to the researcher, bird-bander, and student; it will also serve 
as at least a partial answer to the many questions that confront the birder 
when he is in the field. Previously no single reference served as a source 
for such detailed information on North American birds. 
William E. Southern, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 
ff ft ft Ft 
BIRD, by Lois and Louis Darling. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 
1962: Illustrated; xiii + 261 pages. $5.00. 
For the first time an ornithological book has been published for the lay- 
man which is more than a series of color plates and distributional informa- 
tion. Bird is a well written, simply presented, interesting coverage of avian 
biology. 
As stated by Roger T. Peterson in the Foreword: “Identification is 
the first phase of interest of the serious birder .... But after three or 
four years, if he has been at all active, the birds come slowly .... if listing 
is his only goal, his interest is bound to taper off unless he makes the trans- 
ition to a broader interest in bird study.” 
