The Birds
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4 out of 5
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| Based on 41 Ratings and 41 Reviews |
Book Description
The association of men with birds has been long and close. Birds and men alike are active mostly during the day, so they share a familiar world of color and sound. In ancient times, priests of pagan cults believed that in some way bird flight foretold the future. And for centuries men tried to imitate flight itself - some going so far as to build wings that they attached to their bodies. Though we...
MoreThe association of men with birds has been long and close. Birds and men alike are active mostly during the day, so they share a familiar world of color and sound. In ancient times, priests of pagan cults believed that in some way bird flight foretold the future. And for centuries men tried to imitate flight itself - some going so far as to build wings that they attached to their bodies. Though we have finally succeeded in mastering flight, the ponderous machines that take us aloft are no match in grace and flexibility for the soaring, diving, darting, climbing actions of a bird on the wing.
Birds have helped men for thousands of years. The warning cries of geese once saved Rome from surprise attack, and even today canaries warn coal miners of the presence of methane gas. Truly, birds touch us in unexpected ways. They are far more to us than game to be shot or chickadees and cardinals to brighten a suburban winter.
No man is more aware of the importance of birds than Roger Tory Peterson. His Field Guide to Birds of America and subsequent field guides on birds of other countries have made him the world's best known bird expert; his system of identification and his paintings of bird life have revolutionized bird watching. Small wonder that the Editors of Time-Life Books were delighted to have him as the author of this fine volume.
- Dean Amadon
Lamont Curator of Birds
Chairman of the department of Ornithology
The American Museum of Natural History
- the Introduction
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