30 THEA UD U BONG BU Db ke ie 
BOOK REVIEWS 
MEN, BIRDS AND ADVENTURE, by Virginia S. Eifert. Dodd, Mead and 
Co., 432 Park Avenue South, New York 16, New York. 273 pages. With 
bibliography, index and 24 pages of photographs. 1962. $4.50. 
This book will appeal to an audience that is interested in either the 
discovery of American birds or the explorers of America and their Journeys. 
The book begins with a brief reconstruction of prehistoric bird arti- 
facts and the bird records of the Norsemen and Columbus. It then turns 
to the distinguished and varied list of American naturalists and the birds 
they found — Marks Catesby and the Yellow-breasted Chat; Du Pratz 
and the birds of Louisiana; Georg Wilhelm Steller and his Alaskan dis- 
coveries; William Bartram and his Florida adventures; Captain Cook, 
John Ledyard. and the thrush of Nookta Sound; Lewis and Clark and their 
many bird discoveries; the Yellowstone expedition and Thomas Say’s 
researches; Alexander Wilson, the father of American ornithology, and 
John James Audubon, its greatest figure; Prince Maximilian and his 
Pinyon Jays; Townsend and his solitaire; Nuttall and his western trail; 
Collie, Beechey, Gambel, Bell, and their many first species. The book also 
includes the army ornithologists and the railroad naturalists, as well as 
explorers of the far North. 
Local pioneers include Robert Ridgway of Olney, Illinois; Robert 
Kennicott of the Chicago Academy of Sciences; and Edward Nelson, who 
first discovered Nelson’s Sparrow in the Calumet Marshes near Chicago 
in 1875. 
Here is a unique story of bird lore and adventure combined, with 
twenty-four pages of illustrations by such outstanding bird artists as 
Mark Catesby, William Swainson, J. Wolf, Alexander Wilson, Titian 
Ramsey Peale, John James Audubon, John Cassin, E. Lear, W. H. Werner, 
and Robert Ridgway. As one reads of the discoveries and travels of these 
field scientists, he will want to read more about them and will be delighted 
that a bibliography of over sixty references is at the end of the book. 
Those familiar with the llinois State Museum monthly publication, 
The Living Museum (of which Mrs. Eifert has been its only editor for 
25 years) well know her love for birds and how beautifully she can 
describe nature. She conceived this book while studying the Barnes Col- 
lection of Ornithological Literature, which came to the attention of the 
staff when the Illincis State Museum moved from the old over-crowded 
quarters to the new building. 
Pau! A. Schulze, 622 South Wisconsin Avenue, Villa Park, Illinois 
LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. By Arthur Cleveland 
Bent. 1919-1958. 20 Volumes. 
Anyone interested in bird life. and especially in life histories of 
North American birds, will welcome the reappearance of several of the 
late A. C. Bent texts, published in a series of “Bulletins of the United 
States National Museum.” The first volume, “Life Histories of North 
American Diving Birds” appeared in August 1919, and the last volume, 
“Life Histories of North American Blackbirds, Orioles, Tanagers, and 
Allies” in 1958. The entire set has been out of print and available only 
on the rare book market for over $200.00. 
Dover Publishing Company, 180 Varick St., New York 14, N.Y., is 
reissuing the entire set in individual volumes, just as originally published. 
