Loading...
02 February 24, 1963 - Field Guides and Reference Books Exclusive Sunday Review sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven Focus' on Nature by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue Arthur Cooley is a science teacher at Bellport and because of this background and keen in- terest In natural history of all phases he has been able to bring us this week a long awaited re- port on some of the better known source books in this field. You will be interested to know that he has consented at a 1 a t e r ,date to do an article about na- tural history writings in general. These articles would be w e 1 f worth your keeping for f u t u r e reference. ps. Field Guides and Reference Books This column has presented a series of articles during the past 'ew years that has been both a source of information and enjoy - nent for its readers. The many contributors to the column have arged that for the amateur nat- uralist to realize the maximum )enefit, both factual and esthetic, roan his activities he should go nto the field. However for the amateur to achieve these ambi- ;ions it is extremely difficult without access to appropriate ref-e rence works. This article is intended to give same of the author's preferences in both field guides and reference works. This list is in no way de- signed to be,complete and comprehensive. Let us discuss, various b i r d books first. Since Roger T o r y Peterson's first "Field Guide to he Birds" appeared in;1934, there has been a series of revisions. Now his " Field Guide to the Girds" is general y accepted as the best there is. It presents'con- cise field aids "for all' the birds cast of the Mississippi R i v e r and easily recognizable drawings of each bird. In recent y e a r s there have been added a "Field 3uide to the Western Birds" and a "Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe." Both of these are presented in the charac- teristic Peterson format. They are invaluable to the s e r i o u s girder who wishes to have a more ,omplete reference for the occas- ional rarity from the west or 'rom across the Atlantic. For ;hose birders ,who travel in Eur- )pe, the European guide is proba- Yly the best on the market. From the original P e t e r s o n bird guide grew a series of guides 'or other areas of natural history. Each of these is written by an expert in the field. Particularly noteworthd and useful are t h e , mides for mammals by B u r t and Grossenheider, f e r n s by �obb, reptiles and amphibians yy Conant, trees and shrubs by Petrides, and shells by Morris. Richard Pough has written a field guide for eastern birds in two volumes which gives more complete information on habits, plumages and nesting than does Peterson. However for the be- ginner the plates are more dif- ficult to use than the c o n c i s e drawings found in Peterson. Arthur Cleveland Bent, in the early part of ttris century, wrote a series of -books on N or t h American birds for the National Museum. They have been repub- lished recently by Dover Publica- tions in paper back. These books provide additional infformation for the more serious student. T'hey g i v e complete, information on plumages, eggs, courtship, mi- gration routes and distrubution.. He presents his material in an easy style which is both informa- tive and readable. Ondy the edi- tions of ducks and geese, shore- birds and birds of prey have been republished to date. For those people who travel in the United States a great deal and who wish to find the best birding locations in each area, Pettingill's books called "Guide to Bird Finding' (one for 'the east and one for the west)" are particularly helpful. He, give s fairly complete lists of birds'one might see at various seasons and at different locations in'the state. There are a group of period - icals which should be mentioned here as most of them deal with birds. The official quarterly pub- lication of the American Orni- thologists' Union is the "Auk" which contains .most of the im- portant papers presented in this field. On the more popular side are the "Kingbird," "Audubon Field Notes ", and the "Audubon Magazine ". For .general, nature articles, the "Natural History" magazine is excellent, There are many readers of this column who are interested in flowers both cultivated and wild. Homer D House, many years ago, wrote a two volume set on the wildflowers of New York S t a t e. It has recently been republished in one volume and presents many fine color photographs of t h e more common wildflowers of this state. There is a short text which gives a description of each species. While its layout does not allow for quick identification of unknown flowers, it serves as a good home reference work. Wherry has written a cheaper and .more concise field guide of the flowers. Unfortunately as is the case with most flower books, it is incomplete, but it comes close to being the ideal field guide. Putnam has published a group of field guides to compete with the Peterson guides. They a r e generally not as good but Thomas' "Fieldbook of the Com- mon Mushrooms" and Miner's "Fieldlbook of Seashore life" are two exceptions. The Hirst, while incomplete, is the best introduc- tory guide to the more common fungi of our area. It presents, along with plates, comments on each fungus with particular em- phasis on its edibility. The second book is a bit technical but for the more serious marine natural- ist it serves as a farce reference work. Many people find shell collect- ing an interesting hobby even though it does not provide the variety found farther south. Peter- son's field guide by Morris is good for the beginner. There is, however, a more complete book by Abbott called "American Sea- shells". It gives,an account of all the seashells of both the °Atlantic and Pacific coasts and pictures of most of them.. • Many _ of t h e fine photographs are in color and there is a fine introduction to the mollusks in the front of the book. The following two books are out of print but may occasionally be found on the used book market. Holland, some years ago, wrote one book on moths and another on butterflies. The plates are good but are difficult to use as identification g u iod a s. However, the value lies in the interesting text. There is for instance in the moth book a short account of how to s u g a r for moths by spreading on *a tree t r u n k a homemade brew of rum, sugar, and beer. Not only does t h is work but it makes interesting reading. H e r b e r t K Kim has edited a group of dollar pocket- books on various nature topics. They are incomplete but for the young beginner they can be very useful. Especially good are the ones on the seashore and insects. While the following books are British, their topics may be of interest to the American natural- ist. There is a series of books called "The New Naturalist Series" which attempts to g i v e good scientific information in a readable and interesting way. It fulls a niche in British nature literature which has no American counterpart. There are books on mushrooms, reptiles and amphi- bians, etc' but these are about British species, However; Tinber- gen's "Herring Gull World ", and Fisher's and Lockley's "Seabirds" and others are applicable to our side of the Atlantic. Admittedly, we h a v e n o t touched on all the fields of nat- ural history nor have we tired to be complete in those we have mentioned. We would be interest- ed to hear from any of o u r readers about their favorite books and would freely supply any addi- tional information about books found in this article. FIELD OBSERVATIONS Laurence Ernest reports: Jan 26 — Feb 3 Southampton (at' feeder) Cowbirds (,3 male) Water Mill Wilson's Snipe (1)) Killdeer (4) Great Blue Heron (4)_ Green - winged Teal` (2) Hairy Woodpecker Shinnecock Bay Brant Wainscott — Feb It Horned Larks., . East Hampton Wood Duck Coots Montauk Marsh Hawk Common Eiders European Cormorants Redpolls Shrike