36 THE AUDUBON 3 Uh bie tiie 
America. There he became an engraver, weaver, and school teacher. Eventu- 
ally more of his time turned to ornithology—he learned to draw from mount- 
ed specimens he had shot, a common practice in those days. 
Perhaps the most amusing incident in the book is the account of how 
Wilson had “winged” an ivory-billed woodpecker. He took it to an inn, 
left the room, and when he had returned he found the bird had almost 
escaped by completing a hole thru the plaster and laths. He tied the bird to 
a mahogany table, left the room again, and when he returned found the 
table in chips. 
He was only 47 when he died. A memorial statue has been erected in 
his honor in his native village in Scotland, and several species of birds 
have been named after him: the Wilson’s Plover, the Wilson’s Tern, and the 
Wilson’s Phalarope, among others. 
Savage concludes the book with an excellent chapter on Man and Nature, 
with an appeal for a decline in fecundity, an end to the Vietnam war so that 
such precious funds can be used for humane and environmental purposes, 
and a plea that man take a new look at himself and nature . 
—Raymond Mostek 
BATS OF AMERICA. By Roger W. Barbour & Wayne H. Davis 
University of Kentucky Press, Lexington. $17.50 
This most attractive book on the bats of America should be of considerable 
interest to all ornithologists, and especially those mist netting during the 
summer months. 
The authors fulfilled three purposes with this book. It is intended to 
assist in accurate identification. This they have accomplished with an ex- 
cellent key in which the characteristics are illustrated with photographs, 
and by the species accounts which contain illustrations of skull character- 
istics, and excellent photographs of each species. Twenty-four colored plates 
of live active bats also are of considerable use in identification. All Illinois 
species are depicted by colored plates, and this alone should greatly aid the 
amateur in identification. 
Secondly, the book is intended to present general life history information 
available for each species found within the United States. This includes such 
information as distribution both summer and winter, habitat, behavior, re- 
production, care of young, population dynamics, migration, homing, hiber- 
nation, food and feeding, molt, parasites and disease, predators and general 
remarks. Distributional maps are also available for each species. 
The third purpose was to create an appealing and attractive book. This 
was accomplished by the outstanding colored plates, which equal anything 
you'll find in National Geographic, or Audubon Magazine, and by the 130 
additional figures which aid identification. 
The University of Kentucky Press has done a commendable job. The 
general layout is excellent, and the quality of reproduction of both color 
and black and white is excellent and the cover is buckram. The jacket design 
is also outstanding, with 9 colored photographs of bats. This excellent book 
should be available to anyone interested in our native wildlife, and especially 
those interested in our only flying mammal. 
—Harlan D. Walley, Dept. of Biology 
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 
