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THE RIVER KILLERS 
By Martin Heuvelmans 
Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pa., 
1974, 224 pp, Illustrated with maps 
and photos. $8.95 
In what began as an interested 
citizen’s investigation and swelled 
into an angry citizen’s call for ac- 
tion, this book tells the incredible 
story of destruction of the nation’s 
waterways and ecology at the 
hands of the Civil Works Project 
Branch of the Army Corps of En- 
gineers. Citing specifics in state 
after state .. . reporting on board 
meetings, conferences, and sessions 
not often penetrated by the lay- 
man ... Mr. Heuvelmans shows 
irrefutably that Corps activity in 
lakes and rivers has destroyed fish 
and wildlife, degraded the quality 
of water supplies and desecrated 
the environment to the extent that 
it is almost beyond comprehension. 
Singling out the Civil Works 
Project Branch as the culprit, as op- 
posed to the illustrious military 
branch of the Corps of Engineers, 
Heuvelmans traces the formation 
of the Civil Works Project Branch 
and its commitment to solve na- 
tional civilian engineering prob- 
lems. Once plunged into flood con- 
trol, dam building and drainage 
operations, the Corps has collected 
cries of outrage from all corners of 
the land crystallized succinctly by 
former Secretary of the Interior 
Harold Ickes, who said that ‘no 
more lawless or irresponsible Fed- 
eral Group has ever attempted to 
operate in the United States, either 
outside or within the law.” 
_ Though some critics have charged 
that Heuvelmans resorts to over- 
statement and is unrealistic in 
calling for the abolishment of the 
Civil Works branch of the Corps, 
RIVER KILLERS is nontheless a 
strong tool for ecologists, conserva- 
tionists, sportsmen and _ citizen 
groups in their fight to save shrink- 
ing natural resources. 
—Charles Davidson 
THE LIFE OF BIRDS - 2nd Edition 
By Joel Carl Welty 
W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia 
1975, 623 pp., 290 illustrations $18.50 
During the past fifteen years, 
there have been more ornitholog- 
ical advances than ever before. 
Many new discoveries, research 
techniques, and studies in behavior, 
population ecology, migration, dis- 
tribution, taxonomy, anatomy, phys- 
iology, evolution, (to name a few) 
have been published as books or 
in the many scientific journals. It 
is next to impossible for any one 
person to keep abreast of all these 
advances and fully understand 
them. Therefore, amateur and pro- 
fessional ornithologists are indeed 
fortunate that Dr. Welty has con- 
densed all this recent literature 
into layman’s language and _ in- 
corporated it into this second edi- 
tion of his book. 
The text is “a comprehensive 
survey of all that is known about 
birds — a permanent reference 
book for bird enthusiasts that is a 
joy to read.” It helps any student 
of birds to further understand the 
reasons why birds behave the way 
they do and explains in simple, 
straight forward language the com- 
plexities of birds lives. The last 
chapter, “Birds and Man,” not in 
the first edition, relates the many 
benefits derived from birds as well 
as the problems that man has 
created for birds and birds for man. 
For the convenience of readers 
who desire further information 
about certain topics. Dr. Weltry has 
prepared an excellent list of sug- 
gested readings at the end of each 
chapter. 
Although the price may seem 
prohibitive, this book is definitely 
the most comprehensive, up-to-date 
reference available and an ex- 
tremely valuable source for under- 
standing the whys and wherefores 
of birds and their lives. —Editor 
