Lo one eon Nee bo Ui ils Kb olen 31 
correct some facts in the chapter 
titled “A Search for Eagles.” 
This chapter deals in part with 
my own studies. The lead para- 
graph quotes. three _ all-winter 
counts I made in our Christmas 
Count area and not Christmas 
counts (only) as stated. A more 
confusing error is on page 152, 
telling about three January counts 
on the continental study. These 
mowere) in’ 1961, *62Z-and “63. About 
3,700 eagles were found each win- 
ter. The percentage of young were 
26.5%, 23.7% and 21.6%. 
These figures were credited to 
me (“A Survey of Wintering Bald 
Eagles,” Iowa Bird Life No. 3, 
September 1960, p. 56). This has to 
be an error, I do have the official 
Audubon counts for 1962 and 1963. 
The immatures were given as 24% 
and 22%. These were given me in 
1965. The quoted figures might be 
a refinement or correction. 
It is also possible that the quote 
credited to me was for my Missis- 
sippi River counts for the three 
years. On these counts the imma- 
tures were 22%, 20%, and 23.4%. 
These were February counts. 
Sandy Sprunt made a flight count 
of the Mississippi River in January. 
His percentages of young was 20%, 
11%, and 24%. (The middle year 
was very foggy on the two days 
that it took to make the count.) In 
1963 I found 868 eagles and Sprunt 
found 885. Notice also the closeness 
of our immature counts. 
The chart in the chapter, “The 
Chemical Age,’ shows Wisconsin 
eagles were second only to Alaska 
in having the least amount of DDT 
in their eggs — and also in more 
young per nest. This might explain 
in part the increasing numbers of 
young in my past few years’ counts. 
This book should be in the hands 
of any one interested in eagles, 
poison chemicals and_= environ- 
mental changes. 
—Elton Fawks 
NORTHERN FARM: A 
CHRONICLE OF MAINE 
by Henry Beston 
Ballentine/Walden 
212 pp, $12.50 
As he did in his classic, ‘The Out- 
ermost House,” a story of a year at 
Cape Cod, Henry Beston describes 
another year of his life, this time at 
a farm near a pond in Maine. Bes- 
ton seems most fascinated with 
winter — the shadows of bare trees 
and branches, the curves of snow, 
the colorful clothes of his neighbors 
dressed in heavy mackinaws and 
bright plaid shirts. He takes us 
into spring with the break-up of 
the ice, the return of the robin, 
the marsh hawk and the fox spar- 
row. Amid his summer chores, he 
has time to observe nature and the 
farm and city life about him. Mark 
this book down as one to spend an 
evening with by the winter fire- 
side, or take up to that summer 
cottage or northern campsite. 
—Raymond Mostek 
THE SIGN OF THE 
FLYING GOOSE: 
THE STORY OF OUR 
NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGES 
by George Laycock 
Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1973 
265 pp, $2.95 
George Laycock is well known to 
readers of Audubon Magazine. He 
has given us an excellent volume 
to help plan future vacations by 
visiting some of our famous wild- 
life refuges, and he pays tribute 
to several leaders who worked to 
set aside those areas. 
Laycock describes 17 of the 
refuges in detail; 15 natural areas 
in 44 states are given mention. 
Many of the most famous ones 
were established during the ad- 
ministrations of President Frank- 
lin D. Roosevelt, who became a 
