Birds Foot Research Articles

The Bird, its Form and Functions

MR. BEEBE'S handsome And beautifully illustrated book on the bird forms as charming and interesting an introduction to physical ornithology as the general reader unscientific bird lover, can desire. In his preface, the author points out that too many students of ornithology stop short at the classification of birds, the naming of new species, and the observation of the habits of those that are known; and that not one of an audience of teachers to whom he had lectured, though they could identify fifty birds or more, knew the significance of the scales: on a bird's foot. His book is intended to bridge this gap. It is an untechnical study of the bird in the abstract. His aim has been to take a few dead facts and clothe them with the living interest which will make them memorable and full of meaning to any lover of birds, and at the same time to keep them acceptable in tenor and truth to the most critical man of science. Wherever possible, a fact has been illustrated with a photograph from a preparation, or from a living bird, the author's; belief being that when verbal exposition fails, pictorial interest will often fix a fact in the memory. How successful he has been in this a glance at the wealth of exquisite illustrations will show. Beginning at the root of all things avian, his first chapter deals with the birds' ancestors, the Ichthyornis, Archæopteryx, &c., both the remains and a “restoration” of the latter being illustrated.