Subject: Review:Nest,Eggs&Nestlings of NA
Date: Nov 14 17:45:48 1997
From: Mike Patterson - mpatters at orednet.org




Book Review: Baicich, Paul J. & Colin J.O. Harrison. 1997.
_A Guide to the Nests, Eggs & Nestlings of North American Birds_.
Academic Press, London.

Oology is not the hobby that it used to be and field guides on the
subject are few and far between especially for North America.
So, when the mailer announcing _Nests, Eggs & Nestlings of North
America_ arrived, I bit.

Every breeding bird in North America has been represented. Each
narrative describes the nest, breeding season, eggs, incubation
nestlings and nestling periods. The text is spare and to the
point. Line art drawings of nests and nestlings for selected
species are scattered throughout the text.

Color plates are found at the center of the book and include nestlings
for selected species (baby passerines look pretty much alike, so
it's not surprising that there's only one plate of songbirds).
Ducks and shorebirds are well represented, which is useful since
these precocial species are the most like to be seen out in the
open. And those of you who want to know what a baby goatsucker
looks like will get your wish.

The egg plates represent pretty much every breeding species in
North America. Only really rare or recently split species are
omitted.

Of questionable use are the keys at the beginning of the book.
They're not really keys, rather a series of descriptors for
nests, eggs and nestlings. They are a bit unwieldy, but
serviceable.

There is no mention of range (even breeding range) in the text.
This is not all that surprising (or damning), but solidly places
this work in the role of supplemental text rather than self
contained work.

Those doing Breeding Bird Atlas work might find this particularly
useful as would banders & site inventory workers. Birders who've
"hit the wall" for listing may find new opportunities here. Those
beginning their bird library may want to save their pennies for
more generally useful works.




--
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* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * What revolutionaries do best
* mpatters at orednet.org * is eat their own young
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters