14 TH Exe AU. D U BYO*NS BU I Par sige 
pants I am familiar with are concerned. The marsh marigold does not look 
familiar unopened without showing the stamens. Some flowers, for instance 
the dandelion and the tall coreopsis, look to me paler yellow than they ap- 
pear in the mass as we see them in this region. The New England aster 
also grows in more solid’clumps than is shown in the picture. Nevertheless, 
the total book is about the finest collection of mass reproduction in color 
that I have ever seen done in this country, and will be a joy to flower lovers 
everywhere. This is best appreciated when seen in broad daylight. Any one 
of the plates is worthy of individual framing. 
ft FI fA 
AUDUBON WATER BIRD GUIDE, by Richard H. Pough; color plates by Don 
Eckelberry; black and white by Earl L. Poole. Doubleday & Co., Garden 
Citys Nive. too-pus 
There are 485 color plates, the best I have seen short of life size, and 
they cover spring, fall and immature plumages, which fills a much-desired 
want. Hawks and gallinaceous birds are included, as are doves. The 138 
black and white illustrations are of birds in characteristic flight position, 
a considerable help in the identification of birds which cannot be approached 
closely enough to get all the color details. In the case of the hawks, various 
color phases are shown. 
The descriptive body of the book, which could have been written only by 
an expert with wide field experience, describes the characteristic field iden- 
tification marks, habits, food, nest, voice and geographic range, all of which 
are invaluable data. All of this is compressed into a pocket size book of 352 
pages in easily readable print, including an excellent index. The covers are 
used for flyway maps showing life zones and vegetation zones, thus helping 
to explain distribution of birds. Altogether, this is a most valuable addition 
to our pocket size bird guides. 
fl ft FI 
CLARENCE; THE LIFE OF A SPARROW, by Mrs. Clare Kipps. G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons, 210 Madison Avenue, New York City, N.Y., 1954. $2.50. 
The 126 pages include a prologue and an epilogue by the author and a 
foreword by Julian Huxley which of itself is a sort of a review. There is 
also a quotation from “The Problem of Pain” by C. S. Lewis, presenting the 
point of view that man was appointed by God to have dominion over the 
beasts, and that therefore the tame animal is the only natural one. 
The story is of a remarkable attachment between Mrs. Kipps and the 
sparrow which she rescued after ejection or fall from the nest, naked and 
with as yet unopened eyes. The sparrow, which later developed the black 
bib of the male, was fed on milk, egg, haliver oil, bread and later seeds, 
which is described as a vegetarian diet. He was devoted only to his mistress, 
paying scant attention to other birds, even to a little blue tit female who 
courted him for three seasons. He developed song to a high degree, some 
of which Mrs. Kipps, herself a musician, wrote to music; also a yellowish 
collar, saffron waistcoat and primrose pants. (The author attributes this 
to “color feeding” with yolk of egg.) The coloring, the song, and the lack 
of attraction to other birds may possibly be due to hybridization, which is 
not considered in the text. Dr. Alfred Lewy, 25 E. Washington Blvd., Chicago 
