30 THE “AU DUB OW BU Llanes 
herons: “...I had sympathy for them, doomed to live that kind of life. 
In fantasy I created a special heaven to which all good heron spirits will 
go after death. It will have shallow pends, well stocked with slow moving 
fish and frogs with arthritis in their jumping legs. There will be fields 
with many mice, and moles, and snakes, and turtles laying eggs. The 
herons will build safe nests on the ground. But the most heavenly gift 
of all will be new vocal cords to produce sweet, harmonious sounds. There 
will be no guttural squawks in my heron heaven!” 
I have been told that Kirkland is a professional photographer. It is a 
disappointment therefore that his book has not been illustrated by his 
photographs instead of the Karlin drawings, which are first-rate art but 
do not add much illumination to the text. 
I have a more serious complaint, however, about this work—its price. 
Why do publishers, when they do not anticipate runaway sales of a book, 
try to recoup their production costs by means of an inflated price, when 
a moderate tag would result in greater financial return? It is my hope 
that some enterprising publisher will bring out “The Lure of the Pond” 
in paperback at a dollar cr so. With the proper promotion, it should sell 
a hundred thousand copies. 
—R. M. Barror 
PHOTOGRAPHING NATURE By G. J. H. Moon. 144 pages. 
Charles E. Tuttle & Co., Rutland, Vermont. 1970. $10.00. 
A serious “do-it-yourself” student of nature would find this a useful volume 
lt is written in simple; non-technical language, and is profusely illustratec 
with excellent black and white and color photographs. The author presumes 
that the reader has some knowledge of photicgraphic principles; it is not 
a beginner’s text. Mr. Moon is an expert in bird photography, and he 
provides many helpful suggestions concerning the use of blinds (he call 
them “hides’), tripods, various lenses, artificial light and photographing 
birds in flight. 
Other areas covered include landscape and trees, plants and smal 
animals, close-up photography, cinematography, and basic equipment. Dr 
Moon is a noted New Zealand photographer who shares his knowledge, 
placing the emphasis on pictures to illustrate his points rather than using 
extensive texts. —Mrs. I. L. Mostel 
OUR PRECARIOUS HABITAT: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO 
UNDERSTANDING MAN’S EFFECT ON HIS ENVIRONMENT 
By Melvin A. Bernard. W. W. Norton & Co., 55 Fifth Ave., 
New York 10003. 362 pages. $6.95. 1970 
An examination into the serious threats to human health caused by th 
deterioration of our environment is Dr. Benarde’s approach to still anothe! 
volume on our environmental crisis. The author is associate professor al 
Hahnemann College and Hospital in Philadelphia. An expert on inter 
national health problems, he has also taught at Rutgers University, anc 
received a WHO fellowship to London’s School of Hygiene. 
It is the health hazards to human beings caused by air and watel 
pollution, rather than the demise of wildlife, which is causing the Americal 
voter and the American student to become aroused over the decay of tht 
