erie ensue Ue O Nw Ba bib Beli N 33 
EAGLES. By Leslie Brown. (World of Animals Series). 
Arco Publishing, 219 Park Ave. So., New York 10003. 1971. 
$3.95. 96 pages, 76 illustrations. 
Eagles, the world’s most powerful, beautiful and rapacious birds, have 
fascinated man since time immemorial. Many legends have been woven 
around eagles, and’ even if people no longer believe that they carry off 
babies and kill cattle, other misconceptions about them still abound. 
In a new book, “Eagles,” a volume in “The World of Animals” series, 
renowned naturalist Leslie Brown surveys most of the world’s 59 species 
of eagle. He describes their actual behavior, habits, sizes and habitats, and 
attempts to dispell the myths that surround them. 
Mr. Brown reports that the largest eagles weigh about twenty pounds 
with wing spans of up to eight-and-a-half feet. Although eagles do have 
sufficient strength to kill animals weighing close to fifty pounds, they 
are not primarily predators of large animals. They prefer smaller game 
that they can hunt and carry off easily and often include carrion in their 
diets. 
Eagles are found in almost every country and climate, from equatorial 
Africa to Siberia. They eat everything from termites to dead whales. 
Eagles have lived up to forty-eight years in captivity and can fly at speeds 
approaching 200 miles per hour. 
Most eagles mate for life, coming back to the same nest year after 
year—sometimes even succeeding generations of birds will use the same 
nest. Nests are added to each year and grow to be enormous—over eight 
feet deep and as many feet wide. 
Eagles are excellent parents, diligently raising their young. But the 
species generally breeds only once every two years. Their low birthrate, 
combined with the large number of birds shot by farmers and trophy 
hunters, make the species quite vulnerable to extinction. Mr. Brown 
speculates on the probability of eagle survival. He points out that the 
bald eagle, our national symbol, is in considerable danger and makes an 
eloquent plea for effective conservation of these magnificent birds. 
A FIELD GUIDE TO AUSTRALIAN BIRDS (Non-Passerines) 
By Peter Slater. Livingston Publishing Co., 18 Hampstead Circle, 
Wynnewood, Pa. 19096. $10. 1971. 
Australia is one of those faraway places we often dream of visiting, and 
Slater’s book would certainly be in our luggage on the day we stepped 
ashore. A vast island continent, Australia is about the size of the U. S., 
with world-famous cities like Sydney and Brisbane, but also boasting 
vast stretches of open plain, so comparable to the American west. 
The geography of Australia contributes to the considerable number 
of bird species: an enormous shoreline, huge rivers which often run dry, 
lakes which are shallow and broad, and dry and forbidding deserts. 
Peter Slater and his several co-authors have done a superb job on this 
first of two volumes. The second volume, which will deal with passerine 
species, is due to appear shortly. 
An unusual feature, found in no other field guide with which we are 
familiar, are several pages displaying the outlines of bills of seabirds 
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