42 THE AUDUBON BULA 
All his life, the mystery and magic of the natural world, particular] 
the wilderness, have been his there. Sigurd Olson has not been just a write 
of prose-poems and a singer of songs in tribute to nature; he has also bee 
a doer. His service has included positions as a consultant to the Secretar 
of the Interior and to the Director of the National Park Service. Former] 
President of the National Parks Association he is now President of th 
Wilderness Society. 
Olson’s optimism is refreshing. One wishes for the confidence he fee 
in this statement, “I think I understand what wilderness can mean to th 
young man of today.” 
—Ray M. Barro 
BIRDS OF HAWAII by George C. Munro 
Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vi., 1969. $5.00. 189 pages. 
Islands hold a special place in the hearts and minds of many traveler 
Hawaii can hold a lofty place for its major contribution to the touri: 
industry: No hideous billboards defile the landscape. No visual pollutio 
discourages the visitor to this enchanted land. About 25 percent of tt 
land is held in forest reserves, while almost half of the rest is used fc 
cattle and sheep grazing. 
Explorers and immigrant have a way of destroying an island. The 
bring their horses, cattle, and rodents, pigs and dogs, and often upset tk 
balance of nature. Hawaii was no exception. Where the native Hawaiia 
merely plucked the bright-colored feathers of the birds he caught, tk 
early settlers destroyed the bird itself to help feed the feather and hi 
industry. Some birds fell victim to a shortage of food supply, and othe 
lost their habitat when the settlers plowed the land. Munro points o1 
that President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Hawaiian chain ‘ 
islands (except Midway Island) as a “Bird Reservation” in 1909. Two yeai 
earlier, the Hawaiian legislature passed legislation to preserve nati\ 
perching birds. The laws were not a complete success for a variety | 
reasons. 
Apparently not many books have been written on bird life for tk 
Hawaiian group. Munro’s work first appeared in 1944, and the presel 
edition has been designed to fulfill the needs of the excursionist now reacl 
ing the islands in expanded numbers. There are indications that no con 
plete work has been issued on the bird life of Hawaii since Dr. R. C. ] 
Perkins issued his monumental study in 1903. 
“Birds of Hawaii” is by no means a field guide, as we have come | 
know the term. The treatment of the species is uneven. Not every notatic 
carries such related information as, for example, the length of the bird, 1 
color markings, the number of eggs laid, etc. Perhaps this is a redeemir 
feature. The descriptions sparkle with observations and information ofte 
gathered a long time ago. The comment on the Oahu Thrush is illustrativ: 
“This species was endemic to Oahu and inhabited the forests, but hé 
long been extinct...There is no known specimen existing in the wor) 
at this time.”’ Munro goes on to quote from a naturalist named Bloxar 
who entered the following in his diary in 1825: “We soon began to ascen 
the pass, the sun rising at the time mid the chirping of small birds an 
the melodious notes of a brown thrush, the only songster on the islands 
Munro observes that the Oahu Thrush was a common bird which evident 
inhabited the outer fringes of the forest. One bird survey of Oahu, take 
