Oiseaux

pp. viii. 482 + 92 Photo plates. Minor foxing. Edges uncut. 8vo. Original printed wraps. Manuscript ownership of K. B. Corbett. First Edition of a desirable volume in this classic series published by the Smithsonian Institution. "Everyone interested in birds should discover the magnificent work of Arthur Cleveland Bent (1866-1954), one of America's greatest ornithologists. His extraordinary Life Histories of North American Birds, published in a twenty-one volume series (1919-1968), provided behavioral information not available in the standard field guides. These pioneering studies are the durable foundation on which almost all other compilations of North American bird biology (including the contemporary Birds of North America) rest. In them Bent and his collaborators present, in enthusiastic, readable prose, comprehensive information about courtship, nesting, eggs, young, plumages, food, behavior, voice, enemies, and more. Readers who supplement their field guides with these delightful accounts acquire a deeper understanding of both the birds and their observers (as well as an interesting cultural history lesson)." NH9