Customer Reviews

Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey, Part Two

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS OF PREY
ARTHUR CLEVELAND BENT

The all-inclusiveness of Bent's volumes on North American birds has made them classics of our time. Arthur Cleveland Bent was one of America's outstanding ornithologists, arid his twenty-volume series on American birds, published under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, forms the most comprehensive, most complete, and most-used single source of information in existence. No ornithologist, conservationist, amateur naturalist or birdwatcher should be without a copy; yet copies are increasingly hard to come by. Now, however, Dover Publications is republishing at inexpensive prices the entire series, beginning with the two-volume set on birds of prey.

In these two volumes, the reader will find an encyclopedic collection of information about more than a hundred different subspecies of hawks, eagles, falcons, buzzards, condors, and owls. Not a group of general descriptions, but a collection of detailed, specific observations of individual flocks throughout the country, it describes in readable language and copious detail the nesting habits, plumage, egg form and distribution, food, behavior, field marks, voice, enemies, winter habits, range, court ship procedures, molting information, and migratory habits of every North American bird of prey from the ubiquitous barn owl to the extinct caracara of Guadalupe Island.

Completely modern in its approach, the study was made with full recognition of the difficulties inherent in the observation and interpretation of wild life behavior. For that reason, not only the reports of hundreds of contemporary observers throughout the country were utilized, but also the writings of America's great naturalists- Audubon, Burroughs, William Brewster-of the past. The complete textual coverage is supplemented by 197 full-page plates containing close to 400 photographs of nesting sites, eggs, and the young of important species at various stages in their growth.

Unabridged republication of 1st (1937, 1938) edition. Index for each volume. Bibliographies of 403, 520 items. 197 full-page plates. Total of 907pp. 53/8 x 81/2. Paperbound.

A DOVER EDITION DESIGNED FOR YEARS OF USE'
We have made every effort to make this the best book possible. Our paper is opaque, with minimal show-through; it will not discolor or become brittle with age. Pages are sewn in signatures, in the method traditionally used for the best books, and will not drop out, as often happens with paperbacks held together with glue. Books open flat for easy reference. The binding will not crack or split. This is a permanent book. This is a permanent hook.