I'm sure most everybody here also subscribes to BirdChat, but just in
case, here's my vote for a reprint:

"Birds of America", editor Gilbert Pearson, publisher Garden City
Publishing,
1917 with 106 Plates in full color by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

I have that. It was my first bird book. Saved up for it when I was
a youngster, ca 1951, in Wenatchee. It's a true classic. The Garden
City edition is copyright 1936, the University Society copyright is 1917.

Especially great, the lists of "Other Names" -- for example, for the
"Murre": Foolish Guillemot, Gwilym, Tinker, Tinkershire, Kiddaw, Skiddaw,
Marrock, Willcock, Scuttock, Scout, Lavy, Frowl.

For the "Flicker":

Yellow-shafted Woodpecker, Golden-winged Woodpecker, Clape, Pigeon
Woodpecker, Yellow-hammer, High-hole, High-holder, Yarrup, Wake-up,
Wood-pigeon, Heigh-ho, Wick-up, Hairy Wicket, Yawker Bird, Walk-up.

For these names ~alone~, this book should be reprinted.

My copy is suitably dog-eared, and the binding is threatening to revolt,
but I wouldn't trade it for anything. (I may have to find a way to get the
binding replaced) I browse through it frequently, recalling the
"adventures" that fertilized my interest in birds.

The taxonomy is from the AOU -- but in that era the Thrushes were
listed ~last~!

In addition to the color plates, it has numerous photographs and drawings,
and a few wonderful "birdy" drop caps. This is not a field guide -- it is
287 pages, coated, 8 x 11, hard cover, loaded with remarkably interesting
and entertaining text on the natural history of the birds. The photographs
of various ornithologists climbing cliffs and trees with huge old plate
cameras to photograph birds fills one with awe of their dedication,
persistence, and physical condition -- we who now complain that the 600mm
f4 on our window mount, wielded from a Lincoln Navigator, doesn't quite
hack it.<G>

If you ever see this book, buy it at any price.

Jerry
Jerry Blinn
Placitas, NM
EMail : jerry at avisys.net
Web Site : http://www.avisys.net


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