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Louis Agassiz Fuertes
Publications 1897-1930

This page lists books published up to 1930, that include illustrations by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

The books are ordered by publication date with the most recent at the top of the page.


Louis Agassiz Fuertes

There are 4 Fuertes related pages on the site:

- book illust. 1897 to 1930
- book illust. 1931 to present
- books about Fuertes
- contributions to Bird-Lore


Bird art

For general books about bird art and artists see:

Bird art

 

Album of Abyssinian Birds and Mammals

From Paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Introduction: Wilfred H. Osgood

Through the generosity of Mr. C. Suydam Cutting

Field Museum Of Natural History

1930

From the introduction:

Through the generosity of Mr. C. Suydam Cutting, Field Museum is privileged to present in the accompanying portfolio a selected series of reproductions of the last work of the late Louis Agassiz Fuertes. The original paintings, made on the Field Museum - Chicago Daily News Abyssinian Expedition of 1926-27, were purchased by Mr. Cutting, after the artist's untimely death, and presented to the Museum. The great popularity and the prominence of Mr. Fuertes as the leading American painter of birds, together with the opinion freely expressed that these final studies represented the height of his power, brought a demand for their reproduction in some form that would make them available to a wide circle. When this became known to Mr. Cutting he promptly and most generously guaranteed the cost, with the result here produced. The Field Museum - Chicago Daily News Abyssinian Expedition was doubly fortunate in having Mr. Fuertes as one of its members. His talent and skill as an artist and ornithologist were scarcely less important than his charm of personality and his unfailing loyalty. This expedition traversed a large part of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), making collections which cover a wide variety of conditions. The opportunity it gave Fuertes for life studies of African birds was varied and unusual. Theretofore engaged solely in painting American birds, he found a tremendous enthusiasm in a new field and plunged into it with joyous abandon and tireless energy. The conditions under which he worked were ideal for him, although to a less versatile painter they might have been distressing instead of stimulating. A large expedition constantly on the march offers extraordinary opportunities for observing birds under various environments, but it also presents many practical difficulties for a painter.
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Birds Of Massachusetts And Other New England States

Part I: Water Birds, Marsh Birds And Shore Birds

Edward Howe Forbush

Illustrated with colored plates from drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and figures and cuts from drawings and photographs by the author and others

Massachusetts Department of Agriculture

1929

From the introduction:

When the task of preparing a work on the birds of Massachusetts was undertaken, the fact became apparent at once that practically all the birds of New England must be included. There are very few species recorded in New England which have not been taken in Massachusetts and these few are mere accidental visitors. A glance at the map of New England shows that Massachusetts lies directly across the region and is contiguous to every other state except Maine, the southwestern boundary of which is only about fifteen miles from the northeastern border of Massachusetts. Migratory birds passing through New England in their northward and southward flights naturally go through or over Massachusetts and many of them remain for a time within her borders. The long outreaching arm of Cape Cod extends farther out to sea than any other of the outlying coasts of these states. Many water-birds cross it or land upon it, and seabirds from far- away islands and waters are likely to be blown there by hurricanes. Many shore-birds, which in their autumnal migrations reach South America largely by sea, are deflected and driven on the Massachusetts coast by such storms.
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Birds Of Massachusetts And Other New England States

Part II: Land Birds From Bob-Whites To Grackles

Edward Howe Forbush

Illustrated with colored plates from drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and figures and cuts from drawings and photographs

Massachusetts Department of Agriculture

1929

Opening lines on gallinaceous birds:

This is an order of ground-dwelling, scratching game birds. The head is small compared with the heavy body. The bill is stout and obtuse; the wings short, arched, rounded and strong ; the tarsi generally broadly reticulated or feathered; in most cases the front toes are slightly webbed or connected at base; the hind toe is elevated; the claws are short and blunt. Members of this order generally are polygamous, though some are not. They nest on the ground, produce numerous eggs, and the young are able to run about soon after they are hatched. Members of this order are found in every continent, but only one suborder, Phasiani, is represented by birds indigenous to the United States. Economic Status. The birds of this order are of great economic consequence. From among its representatives man has selected the most important and productive of his domesticated fowls. As poultry, birds of this order the world over annually produce food products worth many millions of dollars. Some furnish valuable ornamental feathers. Members of the order rank among the most important of game birds. Bob-whites, quails, partridges, grouse, pheasants and wild turkeys are hunted annually by millions of sportsmen. The aggregate sum expended annually for guns, ammunition, outfits, dogs, guides, gamekeepers, etc. is enormous. The presence of these game birds also adds to the value of the land. Large sums are expended for shooting rights and privileges, and the value of the flesh of the birds killed as food is surprising when computed. Some of the species are exceedingly useful also as destroyers of injurious insects.
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Birds Of Massachusetts And Other New England States

Part III: Land Birds From Sparrows To Thrushes

Edward Howe Forbush

Illustrated with colored plates from drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Allan Brooks and figures and cuts from drawings and photographs

Biographical sketch of Edward Howe Forbush by John Richard May

Massachusetts Department of Agriculture

1929

From the preface:

It is with a feeling of deep pride and satisfaction that we witness the completion of the three volumes of "The Birds of Massachusetts and Other New England States" but this satisfaction is tempered by our keen sense of loss in the passing of their gifted author, Edward Howe Forbush. Mr. Forbush first became associated with the State Board of Agriculture, as it was then called, in 1893. The value of his studies of economic ornithology was quickly recognized and his work increased in importance during his association of thirty-five years with this department. He accomplished a vast amount of educational work through the medium of his lectures and publications on the relation of birds to mankind. Coincident with his advance as an economic ornithologist was his interest in and work for conservation. He was a pioneer in this field and much of our progressive legislation of to-day is due to his far-sighted policy in urging greater protection for our wild life and to his efforts in stimulating public opinion in this direction. The culmination of his lifetime of study of birds is found in the three volumes of "The Birds of Massachusetts and Other New England States." At the time of his retirement as Director of the Division of Ornithology, a position which he had held since the organization of the present Department of Agriculture, Mr. Forbush was busily engaged in preparing the manuscript for the final volume of this great work. Ten months later, the manuscript almost completed, he laid down his pen for the last time.
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Birds of New Mexico

Florence Merriam Bailey

With Contributions by the Late Wells Woodbridge Cooke

Illustration: Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Allan Brooks

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish

1928

Preface:

The connection of the Biological Survey with the present volume began in 1889, when Vernon Bailey, field naturalist of the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, as the Survey was then called, spent several weeks in making collections and observations in New Mexico, under the direction of the first chief of the Bureau, Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Beginning in 1903, Mr. Bailey was detailed to make a biological survey of New Mexico, and he with Mrs. Bailey and various members of the Survey devoted several field seasons to the work of collecting specimens and notes on the birds and other wild life of the State. Several years ago, during the administration of Henry W. Henshaw, the late Wells W. Cooke was detailed to bring together for publication all available data on the bird life of the State, under the direction of Dr. E. W. Nelson, then chief of the Bureau's division of biological investigations. This task, when nearing completion, was interrupted by the death of Professor Cooke. For some time the work remained unfinished. Then Mrs. Bailey, whose extensive publications on western birds included important original contributions on the birds of New Mexico, was asked by Doctor Nelson, at that time chief of the Bureau, to bring the report to date. The scope of the work was then enlarged, and the resulting book, the first comprehensive report on the bird life of the Southwest, is herewith presented.
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Distribution of Bird Life in Ecuador: A contribution to a Study of the Origin of Andean Bird Life

Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural History

Volume LV

Frank M. Chapman

4 colour plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Numerous other illustrations, figures and photographs

1926

Example text:

Although Ecuador, in proportion to its size, has the richest avifauna of any South American republic, it was almost the last to receive the attention of ornithologists. Chile had her Molina (1782) and Gay (1847); Patagonia her Darwin and Gould (1841); Paraguay her Azara (1802-5); Brazil her Wied (1830-33) and Spix (1824-25); Guiana, von Schomburgk, and Cabanis (1848); Bolivia, d'Orbigny (1835-47); and Peru, von Tschudi (1844). As early as 1838 or 1839 dealers began to ship native-made bird skins from Bogota to Paris, and in 1842 Prince Adelbert of Prussia found in Rio Janeiro a dealer named Besecke who employed thirty hunters and had at that time about 35,000 bird-skins in stock.' But there is no definite record of a bird's skin from Ecuador until 1844 when Lesson described four species from Guayaquil, all of which are characteristic of the region and doubtless, therefore, came from the locality named.
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A Natural History Of The Ducks

Volume III: Anatinae (concluded) and Fuligulinae (in part)

John C. Philips

With plates in color and black and white from drawings by Frank W. Benson, Allan Brooks and Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Houghton Mifflin

1925

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Herons of the United States

Gilbert T. Pearson

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and others

Bulletin No. 5

National Association of Audubon Societies

1924

38 page booklet with 4 colour plates by Fuertes.

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Birds Of The New York City Region

Ludlow Griscom

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Courtenay Brandreth

Handbook Series, No. 9

The American Museum of Natural History

1923

From the preface:

Seventeen years have passed since the appearance of Dr. Chapman's pamphlet on The Birds of the Vicinity of New York City. This publication briefly summarized the information about our local birds available at that time, and was a veritable mine of inspiration and assistance to the modern generation of field ornithologists and amateur bird students, who were then just beginning work. It is difficult to conceive the change that has taken place in these seventeen years. For one person interested in birds then there are now hundreds, who cover almost every section of the area at every season of the year. When Dr. Chapman wrote, not only were many parts of his territory without a resident student, but many sections had never even been visited by anyone interested in birds, or had remained un- visited for many years. Twenty-five years ago an active field man went out collecting a few dozen times a year, or made two or three trips lasting a week or so apiece. Nowadays an active student will often be afield a hundred times in one year. The result is an enormous mass of data and notes of all kinds, which, when digested and arranged, greatly extend the knowledge of our birds, and modify many old conceptions of their status and distribution.
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A Natural History Of The Ducks

Volume II: The Genus Anas

John C. Philips

With plates in color and black and white from drawings by Frank W. Benson, Allan Brooks, Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Henrik Grönvold

Houghton Mifflin

1923

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A Monograph Of The Pheasants

Volume IV

William Beebe

Colour plates: G.E. Lodge, L.A. Fuertes, A. Thorburn, H. Grönvold, C. R. Knight

Photographs: William Beebe, D. Seth Smith

Published under the auspices of the New York Zoological Society by Witherby and Co

1922

Published in four volumes.

Opening lines:

"GOLDEN PHEASANTS. The Golden and the Amherst Pheasants form a very natural genus, well isolated and demarcated from the others of this family. Linnaeus placed the species, with which he was acquainted, in the all-inclusive genus Phasianus, and although they have since rightly been separated, yet it is probable that in any linear classification, unnatural though it be, the two groups would come rather near together. These pheasants are small in comparison with the general run of their allies, and the sexes are very unlike in appearance. The two known species are closely related, and offer an excellent illustration of differentiation of pattern and colour, while structurally they are almost identical. This is not by any means invariably the case with other birds, and in many instances the apparently evanescent phenomenon of pigmentation outlasts and outvalues changes in actual structure and dimensions of feathers and other tissues. The presence or absence of feathering on the face is almost the only structural difference between these species. The males have elongated stiffened crests, and a very remarkable cape, specialized both as to musculature, structure and pigment. The tail-feathers are long and slightly arched, and the entire plumage shows a very high degree of specialization of colour. As is so often true, it is impossible to indicate which is the more ancestral type. That vanished form probably lay midway, the two descendants each developing specialization in different parts of the plumage. For instance, while the pure white of the Amherst's cape is far more of an extreme specialization than the orange of the Golden, yet the barbless extremities of the feathers of the latter are specializations of an extremely high order."

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A Monograph Of The Pheasants

Volume III

William Beebe

Colour plates: G.E. Lodge, L.A. Fuertes, H. Jones, H. Grönvold, C. R. Knight, E. Megargee

Photographs: William Beebe, General A.C. Bailward, Dwight Huntington, Douglas Carruthers, Roy C. Andrews, W.R. Price

Published under the auspices of the New York Zoological Society by Witherby and Co

1922

Published in four volumes.

Opening lines:

"KOKLASS PHEASANTS. The Koklass Pheasants are birds of medium size, and impossible to place with any certainty in a linear scheme of classification. They show traces of resemblance to several groups, and in spite of the moderate length of tail of the cocks, perhaps come as close to the genus Syrmaticus as I have defined it, as to any other. The syrinx is extremely close to that of Phasianus. The head in both sexes is entirely feathered. The male has an elongated crest, and, owing to the posterior portion being of a different colour and sprouting rather densely behind the ear-coverts, this portion has been considered to be more of the nature of ear-tufts than a crest. This posterior crest, however, on examination is seen to extend clear across the occiput. The crest in the female is shorter. Most of the body feathers are lanceolate. The tail consists of sixteen feathers, and is extremely graduated and wedge-shaped ; the middle pair are slightly the longest, and about twice as long as the outer pair. The tail-coverts simulate the tail itself in their colour, great length and gradation. The wings appear exceedingly long and pointed for a pheasant, owing to the fact that the primaries extend well beyond the secondaries when the wing is closed. The I St primary is considerably longer than the 2nd, which is about equal to the 8th ; the 4th is slightly the longest of the series. The tarsus is slightly longer than the middle toe and claw."

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A Natural History Of The Ducks

Volume I: Plectropteinae, Dendrocygninae, Anatinae (in part)

John C. Philips

With plates in color and black and white from drawings by Frank W. Benson, Allan Brooks and Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Houghton Mifflin

1922

From the introduction: "Since the dawn of history wild-fowl have occupied the attention of man. The Egyptians well knew their value as an article of diet, and one can still see many different kinds faithfully reproduced on the bas-reliefs of the earlier dynasties, together with the nets and boats used in catching them. At least one species they held sacred; but domestication of ducks does not appear to have been perfected until the Roman times.

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Birds Worth Knowing

Neltje Blanchan

16 color illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and others

Doubleday, Page & Company for Nelson Doubleday

1922

From the preface:

As several hundred thousand readers have been kind enough to approve the author's four previous volumes on birds, it has been suggested that a single volume might be helpful, dealing with the birds most worth knowing and chosen by the author from these writings with the view of interesting an ever-widening circle of new friends in the most appealing form of wild hfe there is still left about us. An immense wave of interest in birds recently swept over the country where less than a generation ago was complete indifference to their extermination. Why this change of the people's thought? Largely as the logical result of persistent and highly intelligent educative work by the Audubon Societies, directed by scientific and altruistic men and women, in reaching school children, clubs of many kinds, granges, editors, and legislators. Vast quantities of well-written pamphlets and beautiful colored pictures, such as are used to illustrate this book, are distributed annually; bird clubs are actively at work aU over the country; Junior Audubon classes graduate fresh recruits; wardens are safe- guarding the breeding grounds of the egret, gull, tern, eider, and other birds dangerously near the vanishing point; bird sanctuaries have been established in countless parks, cemeteries, private estates, and public domains; the making of bird houses, fountains, and restaurants has suddenly become a well-advertised business as well as a pastime for every boy and girl who can handle a hammer; people are planting trees, shrubs, and vines especially to attract birds and they systematically feed them all winter; Audubon field agents are lecturing, disseminating literature, button- holing legislators, and looking out for the birds' interests generally in State and National Capitols, interests now backed up by intelligent public opinion so strong as to make the ultimate passage of protective laws in every state of the Union a foregone conclusion.
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The Book Of Birds: Common Birds Of Town And Country And American Game Birds

Henry W. Henshaw

Colour plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Foreword: Gilbert Grosvenor

National Geographic Society

1921

A collection of articles from National Geographic that had earlier been collected in two separate books.

From the foreword:

"In this volume are presented the principal articles and the most beautiful color illustrations of man's feathered friends which have been published in the National Geographic Magazine during the last six years. The text and pictures comprise one of the most valuable and fascinatingly interesting contributions to popular science the National Geographic Society has devised, and the most comprehensive and charming handbook of avian lore that has ever been offered at a moderate price. The 250 illustrations in color of the Common Birds of Town and Country, of our Warblers and American Game Birds, are reproductions of the matchless pictures from the brush of the distinguished artist-naturalist, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, while the descriptive text by Henry W. Henshaw, formerly Chief of the U. S. Biological Survey, sets forth concisely, entertainingly, yet with scientific accuracy, the distinguishing characteristics of each species of bird, its peculiar habits, and its favorite habitat. Dr. Henshaw has pointed out the need for the preservation of bird life, and how the farmer without his feathered insect-destroyers would face constant disaster to his crops. Few wonders of the natural world are as compelling in interest as is the display of that mysterious impulse which is followed season after season by the birds which migrate from their winter homes to their nesting places in the spring, and then make the return journey in the fall, guided no one knows how - an absorbing study for both layman and scientist. The article by the late Wells W. Cooke, "Our Greatest Travelers: Birds that Fly from Pole to Pole, etc.," gives a most comprehensive and engaging digest of these mysterious migrations, and the text is elucidated by a series of illuminating maps and charts. Frederick H. Kennards article, "Encouraging Birds Around the Home," accompanied by numerous illustrations in black and white, tells with the hird-lover's enthusiasm how every reader, be he proprietor of a great estate or the owner of a window-sill, can make the acquaintance and win the confidence of birds, adding them to his circle of appreciative friends and charming visitors."
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A Second Book Of Bird Songs For Children

W.B. Olds

Illustrations: Bruce Horsfall, Louis Agassiz Fuertes and others

G. Schirmer

1921

From the preface:

Keenly appreciative of the kind words which have greeted the publication of Twenty-Five Bird Songs for Children, the author is encouraged to add to the list of birds therein treated, this second volume of twenty songs. With the woods, fields and marshes overflowing with suggestive melodies and calls which challenge the musical ear and creative imagination, there is no reason why we should not have songs about every bird which has a characteristic song or call-note.
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The Burgess Animal Book For Children

Thornton W. Burgess

Color and b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Little, Brown & Company

1920

From the preface:

The cordial reception given the Burgess Bird Book for Children, together with numerous letters to the author asking for information on the habits and characteristics of many of the mammals of America, led to the preparation of this volume. It is offered merely as an introduction to the four- footed friends, little and big, which form so important a part of the wild life of the United States and Canada. There has been no attempt to describe or classify sub-species. That is for the scientist and student with specific interests. The purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with the larger groups - orders, families, and divisions of the latter, so that typical representatives may readily be recognized and their habits understood. Instead of the word mammal the word animal has been used throughout as having a better defined meaning to the average child. A conscientious effort to avoid technical terms and descriptions has been made that there may be nothing to confuse the young mind. Clarity and simplicity have been the objects kept constantly in view.
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The Burgess Bird Book For Children

Thornton W. Burgess

35 color plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Little, Brown & Company

1919

From the preface:

This book was written to supply a definite need. Its preparation was undertaken at the urgent request of booksellers and others who have felt the lack of a satisfactory medium of introduction to bird life for little children. As such, and in no sense whatever as a competitor with the many excellent books on this subject, but rather to supplement these, this volume has been written. Its primary purpose is to interest the little child in, and to make him acquainted with, those feathered friends he is most likely to see. Because there is no method of approach to the child mind equal to the story, this method of conveying in- formation has been adopted. So far as I am aware the book is unique in this respect. In its preparation an earnest effort has been made to present as far as possible the important facts regarding the appearance, habits and characteristics of our feathered neighbors. It is intended to be at once a story book and an authoritative handbook. While it is intended for little children, it is hoped that children of larger growth may find in it much of both interest and helpfulness.
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Birds Of Field, Forest And Park

Albert Field Gilmore

Foreword: T. Gilbert Pearson

Illustrations: R. Bruce Horsfall, Louis Agassiz Fuertes and others

The Page Company

1919

Preface:

The success of the little book "Birds Through the Year" in stimulating among its readers a desire to make the acquaintance in the open of the birds described therein, has prompted the author to prepare this somewhat more pretentious volume. This is in no sense a treatise on the science of ornithology, but the effort is made to reproduce the atmosphere of the natural home of the bird in field, forest and park, by describing the conditions under which each variety is found, and their usual surroundings, as well as their habits, plumage, songs, etc. About one hundred and fifty varieties are thus described, including those most common in eastern North America. While the classification recognized by the American Ornithological Union has been followed, the Latin names have been avoided, as well as those purely technical terms that are unfamiliar to the layman. The author's observations of bird life, covering a period of more than thirty years, have been made for the most part in his home state, Maine, in the region about New York City, New Jersey, the Catskill Mountains, and in the Southern States.
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Trees, Stars And Birds: A Book Of Outdoor Science

Edwin Lincoln Moseley

Illustrated in color from paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and with photographs and drawings

World Book Company

1919

Preface:

This book is designed to encourage students to ob- serve and think. It may also furnish some information about trees, birds, and heavenly bodies which will enhance the pleasure of living wherever these things can be seen. The language is simple enough for students in the sixth or seventh grade, the facts important enough for more mature students. Part One may well be studied in the fall, Part Two in winter, and Part Three in spring, but it would be a mistake to restrict the study of any part to a single season, or to attempt to finish one part before taking up the next. In order to become familiar with the planets and brightest stars the student should view the heavens at different seasons. The trees and birds also change their appearance as the seasons change. They should be observed at all times of the year. The student who is well started in nature study is likely to continue his outdoor observations, as opportunity affords, throughout his life. He will get a better start by using this book in school for two or more consecutive years than by going over all of it in one year.
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The Game Birds Of California

Joseph Grinnell, Harold Child Bryant and Tracy Irwin Storer

Colour plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes (12 plates) and Allan Brooks (4 plates)

Numerous drawings in the text

University Of California Press

1918

From the introduction:

In preparing the present volume the authors have attempted to meet the requirements of a varied public. The hunter wishes information concerning the haunts and habits of our game birds ; the naturalist wishes to have the completest possible data regarding their life histories ; the legislator who appreciates the necessity of judicious game laws wishes to have the facts that are relevant to his purpose presented in concise form; and the conservationist desires that information which will assist him in his efforts to perpetuate our bird life for the ultimate benefit of the greatest number of people. Whether the needs of these various classes have been adequately met in the following pages remains to be proved, but it may at least be stated here that none of them has been overlooked. To each of the four categories of persons above mentioned, this book is offered as a working manual.
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Wild Animals Of North America

Intimate Studies Of Big And Little Creatures Of The Mammal Kingdom

Edward W. Nelson

Natural Color Portraits From Paintings By Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Track Sketches By Ernest Thompson Seton

The National Geographic Society

1918

From the introduction:

"In offering this volume of "Wild Animals of North America" to members of the National Geographic Society, the Editor combines the text and illustrations of two entire numbers of the National Geographic Magazine - that of November, 1916, devoted to the Larger Mammals of North America, and that of May, 1918, in which the Smaller Mammals of our continent were described and presented pictorially. Edward W. Nelson, the author of both articles, is one of the foremost naturalists of our time. For forty years he has been the friend and student of North America's wild-folk. He has made his home in forest and desert, on mountain side and plain, amid the snows of Alaska and the tropic heat of Central American jungles - wherever Nature's creatures of infinite variety were to be observed, their habits noted, and their range defined. In the whole realm of scientists, the Geographic could not have found a writer more admirably equipped for the authorship of a book such as "Wild Animals of North America" than Mr. Nelson, for, in addition to his exceptional scientific training and his standing as Chief of the unique U. S. Biological Survey, he possesses the rare quality of the born writer, able to visualize for the reader the things which he has seen and the experiences which he has undergone in seeing them. Each of his animal biographies, of which there are 119 in this volume, is a cameo brochure - concisely and entertainingly presented, yet never deviating from scientific accuracy."
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In The Wilds Of South America

Six Years Of Exploration In Colombia, Venezuela, British Guiana, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, And Brazil

Leo E. Miller

Color frontispiece: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Black and white photographs

Charles Scribner's Sons

1918

From the preface:

"The explorations here recounted were undertaken by me as a member or leader of the following expeditions, all of which were undertaken under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History, New York City: Colombia - March, 1911, to September, 1912; Colombia - November, 1914, to April, 1915; Venezuela - November, 1912, to June, 1913; British Guiana - July to October, 1913; Roosevelt-Rondon South American Expedition, mostly in Brazil but covering a part of Paraguay, with stops in Uruguay and Argentina - October, 1913, to June, 1914; Bolivia - May, 1915, to January, 1916, touching at Panama, Ecuador, and Peru en route; Argentina - January to September, 1916, The purpose of these expeditions was to collect birds and mammals; also to study the fauna in general and to make all possible observations regarding the flora, topography, climate, and human inhabitants of the regions visited. The personnel of each expedition is given in the proper place in the text. I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Doctor Frank M. Chapman and to Colonel Theodore Roosevelt for suggesting and encouraging the production of this book, also to Mrs. Alice K. Fraser for the great amount of time and work devoted to typewriting the manuscript."
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The Way To Study Birds

John Dryden Kuser

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

G.P. Putnam's Sons

1917

Opening of chapter one:

"The arrangement of the following pages is founded upon the principle of any elementary book. The simplest terms are used and only enough description is given for actual identification. Starting with the data about our most abundant bird, information is imparted in turn about each species, the sequence being governed by the abundance of the species and hence the probable frequency of our encountering it; the unique character of its form or markings and the consequent likelihood of its being identified by us; and lastly by a consideration of seasonal variation. In this way the reader is afforded not only the means of identifying the fifty species described in this volume, but is taught the method of identifying those not contained herein. The book is divided into five parts. Part 1 takes up the data of a few permanent residents, the use of a bird key, and a few songs. Part 2 is devoted to summer birds, Part 3 to transients (i.e. those species which neither breed nor winter in our locality, but stop in the fall and spring en route from their summer to their winter homes), and Part 4 describes the winter residents. One must not forget that the summer part is applicable to most of the spring and fall, as the majority of our birds arrive by the first week in May and do not leave until well into September. This is also true to a lesser extent of the winter residents."
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The Bird Study Book

T. Gilbert pearson

Color Frontispiece: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Pen and ink drawings: Will Simmons

Doubleday Page & Company

1917

From the preface:

This book has been written for the consideration of that ever-increasing class of Americans who are interested in acquiring a greater familiarity with the habits and activities of wild birds. There are many valuable publications treating more or less exhaustively of the classification of birds, as well as of form, colour, distribution, migration, songs, and foods. Here an attempt is made to place before the reader a brief consideration of these and many similar topics, and suggest lines of action and thought that may perhaps stimulate a fuller study of the subject. Attention is also given to the relation of birds to mankind and the effect of civilisation on the bird-life of the country. The hook is not intended so much for the advanced student in ornithology, as for the beginner. Its purpose is to answer many the questions that students in this charming field of outdoor study are constantly asking of those more advanced in bird-lore. In conformity with the custom employed during many years of college and summer-school teaching, the author has discussed numerous details of field observation, the importance of which is so often overlooked by writers on the subject.
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The Distribution Of Bird-Life In Colombia; A Contribution To A Biological Survey Of South America

Frank M. Chapman

Photographs / illustrations: Arthur A. Allan, Frank M. Chapman, Leo E. Miller, Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural History, Volume XXXVI

1917

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Bird Friends: A Complete Bird Book For Americans

Gilbert H. Trafton

Color and B/W plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruce Horsfall

B/W photographs

Houghton Mifflin Company

1916

From the preface:

These pages are written, not only for the bird- lover, but also for the general reader who has no special interest in birds, but who is interested in those matters that pertain to community welfare. Most of the topics presented in this book have been treated in an entertaining way in many excellent bird books, but most of these books cover only one or two phases of bird life, so that a person de- siring to be generally informed on birds must secure several books. The bird enthusiast is glad to do this, but not the average citizen, who has no more inter- est in birds than in many other topics. It is highly desirable that every citizen should be informed on the need of conserving bird life as one of our valuable national resources. It has been the purpose of the author to gather within one set of covers a brief discussion of the essential facts concerning bird life that are of general interest, which are now scattered through many books, bulletins, and magazines. One of the most interesting developments of the past few years has been the rapid strides made in the cause of bird-protection. Much of this work has been of such recent origin that information regarding these various protective agencies and their work can be found only in recent periodicals. An effort has been made in these pages to bring together some of the more valuable of this material.
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Twenty-Five Bird Songs For Children

W.B. Olds

Introduction: Henry Olds

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruce Horsfall

G. Schirmer

1916

From the preface:

In writing this series of little songs, I have been dominated by a desire to accomplish two results. First, that the songs might prove to be such as would appeal to children, for the actual bird-melodies thus unconsciously absorbed should inevitably lead to a keener delight in the singing of birds, and a better understanding of their songs. A further result of this knowledge I hope will be the promotion of a deeper interest in the whole subject of bird-life, and the need of its preservation. My second purpose is to interest musicians, particularly composers of children's songs, in the possibilities of utilizing bird themes. Here is a vast, untouched field, the resources of which are practically inexhaustible, for, since each individual of several species may have a large repertoire all its own, thousands of beautiful new melodies are to be heard every season. A brief study of the themes which I have used should demonstrate their practical value, and what could be of greater interest to a child than songs treating of bird-life, which contain the real melodies sung by the birds? I have not made a particular point of keeping the melodies in the keys in which they were originally sung. Of greater importance, it seemed to me, was the preservation of the spirit of the original song, transposing, where necessary, to keys which would allow suitable range for the child-voice. The melodic intervals I have, of course, kept absolutely true.
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Our Shorebirds And Their Future

Wells W. Cooke

3 b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Government Printing Office, Washington

Originally published as part of the 1914 Yearbook Of The Dept Of Agricuture

1915

From the introduction:

"Shorebirds were found by the early settlers of this country in vast numbers on the coasts, the inland lakes, and even on the prairies, and while comparatively few now remain it was not until the early seventies that there was a marked lessening of their numbers. Since then shore birds have been so persecuted that vigorous measures must be taken, and immediately, to save them.
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American Game Birds

Henry W. Henshaw

Colour plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

National Geographic Society

1915

This book contains the following reprints from the National Geographic Magazine:

  • American Game Birds, by Henry W. Henshaw, with drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes
  • Nature's Transformation At Panama, George Shiras
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Birds of New York

Part 2: General Chapters; Land Birds

Elon Howard Eaton

Color plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Numerous line drawings, maps and photographs

New York State Museum, Memoir 12

University Of The State Of New York

1914

From the introductory note:

The first volume of this work was communicated for publication in 1908 and was distributed to the people of this State and to the general scientific public in 1910. It was the expectation that volume 1 would be immediately followed by another volume which would afford descriptive accounts, with necessary illustrations, of the land birds of New York, but this purpose has been obstructed by the regrettable illness of the author. Students of the birds interested in this work will, therefore, understand the reason for the apparent long delay in the completion of this undertaking. With the presentation of this volume 2, the entire field, as originally planned for the work, is covered, and there are excellent reasons for feeling that the unavoidable delay has, in some regards, increased the real value of the present book, as it has afforded opportunity for the preparation of chapters of a more general import, particularly bearing upon the relations of the bird life of the State to human concerns.
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Common Birds Of Town And Country

Henry W. Henshaw

Colour plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

National Geographic Society

1914

This book contains the following reprints from the National Geographic Magazine:

  • Birds of Town and Country, by Henry W. Henshaw, with drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, May, 1914
  • Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard, by Henry W. Henshaw, with drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, June, 1913
  • Encouraging Birds Around the Home, by Frederic H. Kennard, March, 1914
  • Our Greatest Travelers: Birds that Fly from Pole to Pole; Birds that Make 2,500 Miles in a Single Flight, by Wells W. Cooke, April, 1911
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Fifty Common Birds Of Farm And Orchard

Henry W. Henshaw

B/W plates and drawings: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and others

Farmers' Bulletin 513

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1913

From the introduction:

This bulletin is intended to serve the very practical purpose of enabling our farmers and their boys and girls to identify the birda that frequent the farm and orchard. The material prosperity of Stste and Nation depends largely on agriculture, and any agent that serves to increase the size of crops and insure their certainty ie of direct interest and importance to the farmer. Birds constitute one of the most valuable of these agents, since they depend largely for their food on insects which are among the farmer's most dreaded foes. Entomologists have estimated that insects yearly cause a loss of upwards of $700,000,000 to the agricultural interests of the United States. Were it not for our birds the loss would be very much greater, and indeed it is believed that without the aid of our feathered friends successful agriculture would be impossible.
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Handbook Of Birds Of Eastern North America

Frank M. Chapman

Color and b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Drawings in text: Tappan Adney and Ernest Thompson Seton

D. Appleton And Company

Revised edition

1912

From the introduction:

In preparing a revised edition of the Handbook, it was decided that any increase in size which would remove it from the ranks of true handbooks was not to be considered for a moment. The question, then, with which I have been confronted, was, how, within given hmits, to meet the wants of the bird student of today, who demands, primarily, information concerning the bird in nature. To add materially to the space given to each of the species contained in the first edition would result in widely overstepping the bounds set by necessity. But, if it were not possible to present a complete biography of every bird, at least a suggestive biography of the bird could be given, and the expansion in size permitted has been largely used for this purpose. This added material will be found in the introductory pages, which number 116, as compared with 31 in the original edition.
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Michigan Bird Life

Walter Bradford Barrows

Illustrations: J.L. Ridgway, L.A. Fuertes, Ernest Thompson Seton, P.A. Tavener and many others

Special Bulletin Of The Department Of Zoology And Physiology

Michigan Agricultural College

1912

From the preface:

The last general work on Michigan birds was prepared by Professor A. J. Cook and published in 1893 as Bulletin 94 of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. It professed to be little more than a list of the birds of the state, with some indication of distribution and abundance, but without descriptions of plumage and with only occasional reference to habits. Limited as was its scope it was a welcome contribution to our bird literature, and since the supply was exhausted, in 1900, requests for another bulletin have been received in ever increasing numbers. The present work has been prepared in response to a demand not only for an authoritative list of Michigan birds but for such additional information about each species as would be useful and interesting. Perhaps it is too much to hope that this demand will be fully satisfied by the present volume, but an examination of its pages will show that an attempt has been made to give the main facts in the life history of each bird found in the state, although in many cases the material has been so abundant that much was necessarily omitted, and the remainder closely condensed. The primary aim has been to put this information in such form as to make it readily intelligible to the average citizen; not too technical to be readily understood by the layman, nor so elementary as to suggest the nature-study primer.
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A History Of The Game Birds, Wild-Fowl And Shore Birds Of Massachusetts And Adjacent States

Edward Howe Forbrush

Drawings: W.I. Beecroft, Edward Howe Forbrush

Frontispiece: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Photographs Herbert K. Job and others

Massachusetts State Board For Agriculture

1912

From the preface:

This volume is intended to fill a place heretofore unfilled, in at least two respects, by any American work. The former abundance and later decrease of the migratory game birds of eastern North America have been studied and narrated at length for the first time, and the histories of the food species of New England which have been exterminated since the settlement of the country have been brought together. This has been done with a purpose. Whenever legislation for the protection of shore birds or wild-fowl has been attempted in the Maritime States of the Atlantic seaboard, certain interested individuals have come forward to oppose it, with the plea that these birds are not decreasing in numbers, but, instead, are increasing, and that they need no further protection. Some admit that certain species are decreasing, but argue that shooting is not responsible for this condition. Similar statements are made in sup- port of proposed legislation for the repeal of existing protective laws. The object of the investigation on which this volume is based was to secure information from historical and ornithological works, and from ornithologists, sportsmen and gunners, regarding the increase or decrease of the birds which are hunted for food or sport.
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Food Of Our More Important Flycatchers

F.E.L. Beal

4 color and 1 b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Biological Survey Bulletin 44

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1912

From the introduction:

"The flycatchers for the most part inhabit the open country, and prefer to live about gardens, orchards, and sparsely timbered hill- sides. Several species are not averse to human neighbors and make their nests in the crannies of buildings, while a number of others build in covered sites, such as hollow trees, under bridges, or under the overhanging bank of a stream. Many of the species show a strong liking for the vicinity of water, and are frequently to be found in the neighborhood of streams or pools, and in dry parts of the country every watering trough by the roadside has its attendant flycatcher. This fondness for the vicinity of water doubtless arises from the fact that insects are abundant in such situations. Most of the species are migratory, though some of them within rather narrow limits. These birds are extremely agile upon the wing, and turn in the air with extraordinary facility, which enables them to catch the flying insects, of which their food largely consists. Their favorite method of feeding is to perch upon a post, stake, or leafless twig, and from tins outlook watch for their prey, and then to sally forth and snap the luckless insect in midair, often with a sharp click of the bill and a sudden turn back toward the perch."
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The Children's Book of Birds

Olive Thorne Miller

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and others

Houghton Mifflin & Co

1912?

From the preface:

The Children's Book of Birds combines under a single cover the First and Second Books of Birds, originally published in 1899 and 1901 respectively and still popular with children in and out of school and with other beginners in the study of birds. The book is intended to interest young people in the ways and habits of birds and to stimulate them to further study. It has grown out of my experience in talking to schools. From the youngest kindergarten scholar to boys and girls of sixteen and eighteen, I have never failed to find young people intensely interested so long as I would tell them about how the birds live. Some of the results of these talks that have come to my knowledge have been astonishing and far-reaching, such as that of one boy of seven or eight, who persuaded the village boys around his summer home to give up taking eggs[vi] and killing birds, and watch them instead, and who was dubbed "Professor" by his eager followers. The effect has always been to make children love and respect the living bird. It has therefore seemed to me that what is needed at first is not the science of ornithology,—however diluted,—but some account of the life and habits, to arouse sympathy and interest in the living bird, neither as a target nor as a producer of eggs, but as a fellow-creature whose acquaintance it would be pleasant to make. Naturally I have drawn on my own observations for much of the matter contained in this book, but these have been supplemented by consultation of recognized authorities in the various fields of ornithology.
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Food Of Some Well-Known Birds Of Forest, Farm, And Garden

F.E.L. Beal and W.L. McAtee

B/W plates and drawings: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and others

Farmers' Bulletin 506

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1911

From the introduction:

Besides the more common birds of the farm and garden treated in Farmers' Bulletin No. 54 there are others less familiarly known, or known only over a smaller area of country. Many of these are of great economic importance in the region they inhabit and are well worth investigation and study. In the following pages the food of twenty species is discussed in its relation to economic interests. The twenty species consist of 8 woodpeckers, 2 hummingbirds, 3 fly-catchers, 1 horned lark, 3 sparrows, 1 butcher bird, 1 warbler, and 1 kinglet. Nearly 5,000 stomachs of these birds have been examined, and the general and most important results are embodied in these pages. Two species, the chipping sparrow and southern butcher bird, are found over the whole country in the breeding season, but migrate to more southern lands on the approach of winter. The snowbird, white-crowned sparrow, and ruby-crowned kinglet, on the contrary, make the United States their winter home, but retire farther north or to high mountain regions in the breeding season. The horned larks in some of their numerous geographical races occur at some time of the year in nearly all parts of the country, though their distribution in winter is very irregular and uncertain. With the exception of the sapsuckers, all of these species are more beneficial than injurious. As the sapsuckers do much damage, they should be clearly distinguished from the other woodpeckers, which are chiefly beneficial.
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Woodpeckers In Relation To Trees And Wood Products

W.L. McAtee

Color plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Photographs and b/w illustrations

Biological Survey Bulletin 39

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1911

From the introduction:

"Woodpeckers are peculiarly dependent upon trees, which furnish them food, shelter, and cradles for their young. No birds are more highly specialized nor more perfectly adapted to a particular mode of life than are most woodpeckers to arboreal existence. Moreover, as trees are important to woodpeckers, so are these birds important to trees. Woodpeckers benefit trees by consuming many of the most destructive forest pests, insects largely inaccessible to other birds. In securing these insects, however, which constitute the bulk of their food, and in making nests and shelter cavities, woodpeckers have another significant economic relation to trees, for they remove bark and wood from both dead and living trees. In the case of dead trees little or no harm is done. When, however, they make excavations in living trees, the birds destroy more or less of the cambium layer, from winch proceeds the growth of both wood and bark. Slight injuries to the cambium result in distorted growth, but the destruction of large areas may cause death. Since trees are exceedingly valuable to man, the habits of birds whose relations to trees are so vital are of much economic importance. It is the purpose of tins bulletin to examine the evidence for and against woodpeckers and to determine their status according to the effect of their habits upon trees and wood products. Injuries by woodpeckers are treated under two heads: (1) Damage by woodpeckers in general; (2) injuries due almost exclusively to the three species properly known as sapsuckers."
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Birds Of Arkansas

Arthur H. Howell

4 b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

B/W photographs and maps

Biological Survey Bulletin 38

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1911

From the introduction:

Arkansas, although long known as a paradise for sportsmen, has been strangely neglected by ornithologists. No detailed study of the avifauna of the State has hitherto been made and very little on its animal life has been published. In mapping the life zones of the Mississippi Valley the Biological Survey has been hampered by the lack of definite information on the distribution of birds in Arkansas, and in order to obtain the data necessary to complete its maps it was found necessary to make a special investigation of the birds of the State and to compile the published records. Arkansas is remarkable for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and many interesting problems of distribution are presented as a result of its topography and geographical position. Situated in the heart of the Mississippi Valley, it forms part of the great highway of migration for a large majority of the birds of passage which summer in the Northern States and Canada, while it affords a congenial winter resort for myriads of waterfowl and great numbers of the smaller land birds driven south by the severity of more northern climes.
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Food Of The Woodpeckers Of The United States

F.E.L. Beal

5 color and 1 b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Biological Survey Bulletin 37

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1911

From the introduction:

"Woodpeckers are essentially arboreal in their habits and obtain the greater part of their food from trees. Their physical con- formation eminently adapts them to this mode of life. Their legs are rather short and stout, and the toes are furnished with strong, sharp claws. With the exception of the genus Picoides, all North American woodpeckers have four toes, two of which point forward and two backward. To further aid in maintaining themselves on the trunks of trees, their tails are com- posed of stiff feathers terminating in sharp spines, which can be pressed against the bark and so serve as a prop to hold the bird in an upright position while it is at work. Woodpeckers are thus enabled to cling easily to the trunks and branches and to strike effective blows with their beaks upon the bark or wood As much of the food of woodpeckers is obtained from solid wood, Nature has provided most of them with a stout beak having a chisel shaped point, which forms an exceedingly effective wood-cutting instrument. But the most peculiar and interesting point in the anatomy of these birds is the tongue. This is more or less cylindrical in form and usually very long (fig. 1, a). At the anterior end it generally terminates in a hard point, with more or less barbs upon the sides (fig. 1b). Posteriorly the typical woodpecker tongue is extended in two long, slender filaments of the hyoid bone which curl up around the back of the skull and, while they commonly stop between the eyes, in some species they pass around the eye (fig. 2, b), but in others enter the right nasal opening and extend to the end of the beak (fig. 2, a). In this last case the tongue is practically twice the length of the head. Posteriorly this organ is inclosed in a muscular sheath by means of which it can be extruded from the mouth to a considerable length, and used as a most effective instrument for dislodging grubs or ants from their burrows in wood or bark. Hence, while most birds have to be content with such insects as they find on the surface or in open crevices, the woodpeckers devote their energies to those larvae or grubs which are beneath the bark or even in the heart of the tree. They locate their hidden prey with great accuracy and often cut small holes directly to the burrows of the grub."
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Bird Stories From Burroughs: Sketches Of Bird Life Taken From The Works Of John Burroughs

John Burroughs

4 colour & 3 b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Houghton Mifflin Company

1911

From the preface:

John Burroughs's first book, "Wake- Robin," contained a chapter entitled "The Invitation." It was an invitation to the study of birds. He has reiterated it, implicitly if not explicitly, in most of the books he has published since then, and many of his readers have joyfully accepted it. Indeed, such an invitation from Mr. Burroughs is the best possible introduction to the birds of our Northeastern States, and it is likewise an introduction to some very good reading. To convey this invitation to a wider circle of young readers the most interest- ing bird stories in Mr. Burroughs's books have been gathered into a single volume. A chapter is given to each species of bird, and the chapters are arranged in a sort of chronological order, according to the time of the bird's arrival in the spring, the nesting time, or the season when for some other reason the species is particularly conspicuous.
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Birds of New York

Part I: Introductory Chapters; Water Birds And Game Birds

Elon Howard Eaton

Color plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Numerous line drawings, maps and photographs

New York State Museum, Memoir 12

University Of The State Of New York

1910

From the preface:

During the 64 years which have elapsed since DeKay's account of New York ornithology was published, 100 species of birds have been added to our State list and material advancement has been made in our knowledge of the habits and distribution of the commoner species. The present report has been prepared with the double purpose of bringing together as completely as possible our knowledge of New York birds at the present time; bv affording the intelligent public an account of every species known to occur within the State, accompanied with the illustrations so successfully executed by Mr Fuertes, it is hoped that the rising generation will become sufficiently acquainted with the beauty, interest and value of our birds to appreciate and protect them more efficiently.
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Distribution And Migration Of North American Shorebirds

Wells W. Cooke

4 b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Biological Survey Bulletin No. 35

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1910

From the introduction:

"Shorebirds form a valuable national resource, and it is the plain duty of the present generation to pass on to posterity this asset undiminished in value. Consistent and intelligent legislation in favor of any group of birds must be founded on extended, accurate information, and must include knowledge of the breeding and distribution of the birds - where they spend the summer, whither they retire in winter, and when and by what routes they migrate. The present bulletin supplies this needed information so far as it is now available. Consideration of our shorebirds (Limicolae) from an economic point of view is recent. The early settlers found ducks, geese, and swans swarming in certain sections of the United States, and grouse and turkeys very abundant. The size and toothsomeness of these birds made them important objects of pursuit for food, while the shorebirds were considered unworthy of notice. As the great flocks of ducks and geese along the Atlantic coast diminished in numbers, the attention of gunners, especially of market hunters, was turned to the shorebirds, then in countless numbers. A generation of constant harassment spring and fall has almost exterminated some of the larger species and has very greatly reduced even the smaller ones. The time has come when this indiscriminate slaughter must cease if the present remnant of the shorebirds is to be preserved.
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Birds of California in Relation to the Fruit Industry, Part II

F.E.L. Beal

6 color plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Biological Survey Bulletin 34

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1910

From the introduction:

"The first part of the report on Birds of California in Relation to the Fruit Industry was published in 1907. In addition to the Linnet or house finch, which has attracted wide attention and is the subject of much complaint, 37 other species were discussed. In the present and concluding part, the food habits of 32 additional species are treated. Among them are some of the most important birds of the State, regarded from the standpoint of the farmer and fruit grower. The aim has been to collect all data possible on the food of the several species, to consider the facts impartially, and to render a just verdict as to the birds' economic relations. All the birds whose food habits are discussed have direct relations with husbandry. It is true that many of them have not been charged with the destruction or injury of fruit or any other farm products. Almost all however, destroy great numbers of harmful insects or devour seeds of noxious weeds; hence they are important economically."
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Food Habits of the Grosbeaks

W.L. McAtee

3 color plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Numerous b/w illustrations

Biological Survey Bulletin 32

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1908

From the introduction:

"Two distinct groups of finches or sparrows are commonly known as grosbeaks. One of these, which includes the pine and evening grosbeaks, is of little practical importance, since its members breed and pass most of their lives in mountainous regions, or in the northern parts of North America. The other group includes the cardinal, gray, rose-breasted, black-headed, and blue grosbeaks, which spend either the summer or the entire year within agricultural regions of the United States. Hence their food habits are of considerable importance to the farmer. The members of the first-named group may be dismissed with the statement that during the period when they occur in non-mountainous districts their food consists largely of wild seeds and berries. Apparently the best relished are those of mountain ash, choke cherry, box elder, white ash, and maple, and of spruce, red cedar, and other coniferous trees. The food habits of the second group are treated in detail in the following pages."
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In The Open: Intimate Studies And Appreciations Of Nature

Stanton Davis Kirkham

Frontispiece: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Paul Elder & Company

1908

Opening lines:

"Nature is in herself a perpetual invitation: the birds call, the trees beckon and the winds whisper to us. After the unfeeling pavements, the yielding springy turf of the fields has a sympathy with the feet and invites us to walk. It is good to hear again the fine long-drawn note of the meadow- lark voice of the early year, the first blue- bird's warble, the field-sparrow's trill, the untamed melody of the kinglet a magic flute in the wilderness and to see the ruby crown of the be- loved sprite. It is good to inhale the mint crushed underfoot and to roll between the fingers the new leaves of the sweetbrier; to see again the first anemones the wind-children, the mandrake's canopies, the nestling erythronium and the spring beauty, like a delicate carpet; or to seek the clintonia in its secluded haunts, and to feel the old childlike joy at sight of lady's-slippers."
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Useful Birds And Their Protection

Containing Brief Descriptions Of The More Common And Useful Species Of Massachusetts, With Accounts Of Their Food Habits, And A Chapter On The Means Of Attracting And Protecting Birds

Edward Howe Forbush

Colour frontispiece: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Many other illustrations and photographs

Massachusetts Department of Agriculture

1929

From the preface:

In preparing and submitting this report the fact has been kept in mind that the material prosperity of the state and nation depends very largely on agricultural pursuits. An attempt has been made, therefore, to make the volume serviceable to both agriculturist and horticulturist. The author of this report believes, with Townend Glover, that an acquaintance with the useful birds of the farm is as important to the farmer as is a knowledge of the insect pests which attack his crops. Those who open this volume expecting to find within its covers a guide to the birds, a manual for the collector, or a systematic account of the birds of Massachusetts, will be disappointed, for its scope is chiefly economic. The plan of the report as outlined before the legislative committees has been followed to the letter. In undertaking the work, the author has attempted to counteract in some measure the effects of some phases of modern civilization and intensive farming which operate to destroy or drive out the birds; and it is hoped that the book will be of some service as a source of useful information for the bird protectionist. As no report prepared with such a purpose can exert much influence unless widely read, it has been written in a popular style, with little scientific verbiage.
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Birds of California in Relation to the Fruit Industry, Part I

F.E.L. Beal

1 color and 3 b/w plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Biological Survey Bulletin 30

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1907

From the introduction:

"In response to numerous complaints from fruit growers concerning depredations by birds in orchards and vineyards in the Pacific coast region, investigation of the subject was undertaken by the Biological Survey several years ago. In conducting this investigation the writer spent about nineteen months in California, including the fruit seasons of 1901, 1903, and 1906, during which time he visited the most important fruit-growing regions of the State, inspected hundreds of orchards, and interviewed many fruit growers. Kindness and courtesy were everywhere met with, and every facility was tended by orchardists for the acquisition of information, even to a suspension of the customary rule with regard to trespass and shoot on private grounds. In addition to the knowledge gained by field observations, stomachs of all the species of Pacific coast birds economically valuable have been collected, examined, and their contents recorded. When depredations are so widespread and involve so many different species of birds, a thorough knowledge of the nature and extent of the damage done and of the attending circumstances is of great importance."
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The Warblers Of North American

Frank M. Chapman

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruce Horsfall

D. Appleton & Company

1907

Includes 24 colour plates. From the preface:

The warblers have been described as "our most beautiful, most abundant, and least known birds." The knowledge that at certain seasons our woods, and even the trees of our larger city parks are thronged with an innumerable host of birds, the brilliancy of whose plumage rivals that of many tropical species, comes to the bird student with the force of a surprising discovery. One never forgets one's first Warbler! Highly migratory, the extended journeys of Warblers are nevertheless performed with regularity which makes their appearance in the spring a fixed calendar event. The very essence of the season is in their flitting forms and lisping voices; without them May would seem a dreary month and the migration of birds lose half its charm. But these dainty, fascinating sprites of the tree-tops are elusive. Years of observation may be required to add to one's list of field acquaintances the last of the thirty-odd species which, in eastern North America, may be found at a single locality. In this quest the field-glass student is handicapped. The small size of Warblers, their activity, the nature of their haunts, their rapid journeys, marked seasonal changes in plumage, and the general resemblance in the song of many species all tend to render recognition in life unusually difficult. This book has, therefore, been prepared with the cooperation of other ornithologists, to meet the demand for a fully illustrated work which will serve as an aid to the field identification of Warblers and to the study of their life-histories.
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The Passenger Pigeon

W.B. Mershon

Colour frontispiece: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

The Outing Publishing Company

1907

From the introduction:

"It is hard for us of an older generation to realize that as recently as 1880 the Passenger Pigeon was thronging in countless millions through large areas of the Middle West, and that in our boyhood we could find no exaggeratlon in the records of such earlier observers as Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, who said that these birds associated in such prodigious numbers as almost to surpass belief, and that their numbers had no parallel among any other feathered tribes on the face of the earth; or that one of their 'roosts' would kill the trees over thousands of acres as completely as if the whole forest had been girdled with an ax. ...

.... Many theories have been advanced to account for the disappearance of the wild pigeons, among them that their migration may have been overwhelmed by some cyclonic disturbance of the atmosphere which destroyed their myriads at one blow. The big 'nesting' of 1878 in Michigan was undoubtedly the last large migration, but the pigeons continued to nest infrequently in Michigan and the North for several years after that, and until as late as 1886 they were trapped for market or for trap-shooting. Therefore the pigeons did not become extinct in a day; nor did one tremendous catastrophe wipe them from the face of the earth. They gradually became fewer and existed for twenty years or more after the date set as that of the final extermination."
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The Bobwhite And Other Quails Of The United States In Their Economic Relations

Sylvester D. Judd

Color frontispiece and 1 b/w plate: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Division Of Biological Survey Bulletin No. 21

US Department of Agriculture

Government Printing Office

1905

From the introduction:

The quails of the United States, because of their interesting habits and marvelous diversity of form and color, are a notably attractive group. All are handsome birds, but the most striking and beautiful species live in the Southwest and on the Pacific coast. Seven species occur within our borders, but only one in the Eastern States. The others are widely distributed from Texas to California and Oregon. Their range was, and still is, continuous along the entire southern border of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific; but there is an irregular belt along the northern border and a large area in the interior, comprising the Great Plains, the northern three- fourths of the Great Basin,- and the Rocky Mountains, in which they appear to have been originally wanting. With few exceptions our quails welcome the extension of agriculture, and the added food supply in farmed areas results in an increase of their numbers. This is equally true of the bobwhite of the East, and of some of the desert species of the West. So fully does the bobwhite appreciate the advantages of the farm that its range has increased with the extension of the cultivated area, especially west of the Mississippi.
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A Guide To The Birds Of New England And Eastern New York

Containing A Key For Each Season And Short Descriptions Of Over Two Hundred And Fifty Species, With Particular Reference To Their Appearance In The Field

Ralph Hoffman

Four full page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and nearly one hundred cuts in the text

Houghton Mifflin & Co

1904

From the introduction:

There is something infectious in the enthusiasm of a student of birds. To hear him talk about the excitement of seeing a new bird, to read his account of it, or, best of all, to go afield with him on a May morning, is often enough to awaken a new interest, which enriches life to a surprising degree. The study of birds presents plenty of difficulties, which add fuel to the flame of real enthusiasm; there are sloughs of despond beyond which the faint-hearted never get. A guide who knows the way, its pitfalls and short cuts, is always welcome, and almost necessary in these days when our only weapon is the opera-glass. In spite of the fact that many excellent books are now available, the author offers another, both in the belief that there can never be too many good guides, and in the hope that this book has been especially adapted to the growing class of beginners in bird study. The book is the result of experience with many field-classes. Every effort has been made to emphasize the aspect of birds as seen out of doors, to describe their general or most prominent colors rather than any mark difficult to see on the living bird, and to call attention to their characteristic habits and haunts, and thus to enable the conscientious student to answer, with as much certainty as possible, the question, "What is the bird that I have seen?" The keys and the illustrations have been prepared with this end in view. There has been no attempt to give a complete description of the plumage, as it would look if the bird were held in the hand, nor does the book contain anything like full biographies of each species. Minute descriptions of the plumage and full accounts of the lives of the birds are to be found in many excellent books, some one of which may well be used to supplement this Guide. Notes and songs have been carefully described, and as far as possible expressed in English syllables. The author is well aware that another listener might express the same sounds by very different syllables; he has not attempted to convey to any one unfamiliar with the song anything more than an idea of its length and accent, and perhaps a suggestion of the quality of its tone. It is hoped, however, that the songs as transcribed will be useful in identifying doubtful species, that any one comparing the transcripts in the book with his own field-notes, or, better still, with the songs themselves, will recognize their likeness to that of one species and their unlikeness to that of another.
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Eighth And Ninth Reports Of The Forest, Fish And Game Commission Of The State Of New York

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and many others

1904?

This publication includes the eighth report (for 1902) and the ninth report (for 1903) plus a number of additional papers. One of these papers Birds As Conservators Of The Forest by Dr. F.E.L. Beal is accompanied by fourteen colour plates by Fuertes.

Opening lines of paper by F.E.L. Beal:

The enemies of the forest may be roughly grouped in three categories - vegetable enemies, such as fungi and bacteria; invertebrated animals, mostly insects; and, lastly, vertebrates. These will include birds, mice, rabbits, etc., and, most destructive of all, man. Of the three groups, the second is by far the worst in its effects, and is the most difficult to combat. There is probably not a single species of land plant which does not have an insect enemy that preys upon it, and most of them have several, while the trees of the forest furnish food for a legion. In the Fifth Report of the United States Entomological Commission, over 400 species of insects are recorded as preying upon the oak, and the opinion is expressed that this number is far below what are actually in existence. In the same work the elm is said to have about 80 species which feed upon it, the hickory 170, the locust 41, the maples 100, the birch 105, the willow 186 and the pine 165, and in each case the list is confessedly incomplete. On this point Dr. Hopkins has said: The results of investigations lead to the conclusion that the annual loss from insect work on forest trees, and their crude and finished products, amounts to at least one hundred million dollars.
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The Water-Fowl Family

L.C. Sanford, L.B. Bishop and T.S. Van Dyke

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Charles Livingstone Bull and others

The MacMillan Company

1903

From the introduction:

"The Anatidae, or family of wild fowl, comprises the swans, geese, sea-ducks, river-ducks, and mergansers. From time immemorial this group of birds has been most important in its relations to man. Divided into various subfamilies, it contains nearly two hundred species, about sixty of which are North American. The peculiar characteristics of these birds are well known: all have heavy bodies, and most of them long necks; the bill varies much in shape in the different species, but is usually broad, covered with a soft skin and with a hard nail at the tip; it is often provided with little comb-like processes situated on its inner edges, which assist in sifting the food from its common environment of mud and sand. The tongue is large and fleshy, adapted for all sorts of water-vegetable material and various Crustacea and shellfish which comprise the diet. The windpipe varies curiously in the different individuals, being convoluted and twisted, thus affording the volume of voice noted particularly among some of the geese and swans. The legs are short, the forward toes webbed, the tarsus and feet covered with a naked, scale-like skin, nicely adapting the bird for water. The wings vary in length in comparison to the body, but are commonly rather short and specially strong, calculated for speedy, powerful flight, making possible the long, tedious migration peculiar to many of the species. The plumage is thick and dense, consisting of short, soft, outer feathers over a skin coating of down. In many of the species the color is plain, and of a protective character well suited to the haunts of the bird - a condition which is regularly true of the female and the young."
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True Bird Stories From My Note-Books

Olive Thorne Miller

One color and eight black and white plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Houghton Mifflin & Co

1903

Preface:

All the stories in this book are strictly true. Nearly all of them are my own observation, part of them studies of captives in my own Bird Room, and the rest of birds in the field. A few of the incidents have already been related in my grown-up books and in various publications, but most of them are now published for the first time.
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The Economic Value Of Birds To The State

Frank M. Chapman

Color plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

State Of New York Forest, Fish And Game Commission

1903

From the preface:

The bird is the property of the State. From this fundamental conception of the bird's legal status there can be no logical ground for dissent. If a certain species of bird is conclusively proven to be injurious to the agricultural or other interests of the State, no one would deny the State's right to destroy that species. If, on the contrary, a species is shown to be beneficial, then the State has an equal right to protect it. Indeed, we may go further and say it is not only the right, but the duty of the State to give to its birds the treatment they deserve. Here is the great Commonwealth of New York with agricultural and forestry industries which annually yield products valued at $266,000,000. In the closest relation to the welfare of these industries stands a group of animals represented by some 350 species and millions of individuals. Obviously, then, it is the first duty of the State to learn definitely in what way or ways the presence of these incalculably abundant creatures affects its crops and forests. If they are harmful how are they to be destroyed? If they are valuable how are they to be preserved? In short, the State should take all necessary steps to appraise its vast possessions in bird-life.
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Birds of the Rockies

Leander S. Keyser

Eight full page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes; many illustrations in the text by Bruce Horsfall, and eight views of localities from photographs

A.C. McClurg & Co

1902

Opening lines:

To study the birds from the level plains to the crests of the peaks swimming in cloudland; to note the species that are peculiar to the various altitudes, as well as those that range from the lower areas to the alpine heights ; to observe the behavior of all the birds encountered in the West, and compare their habits, songs, and general deportment with those of correlated species and genera in the East; to learn as much as possible about the migratory movements up and down the mountains as the seasons wax and wane, surely that would be an inspiring prospect to any student of the feathered fraternity. For many years one of the writer's most cherished desires has been to investigate the bird life of the Rocky Mountains. In the spring of 1899, and again in 1901, fortune smiled upon him in the most genial way, and in a mental state akin to rapture, it must be confessed he found himself rambling over the plains and mesas and through the deep canons, and clambering up the dizzy heights, in search of winged rarities. In this chapter attention will be called to a few general facts relative to bird life in the Rockies, leaving the details for subsequent recital. As might be expected, the towering elevations influence the movements of the feathered tenants of the district. There is here what might be called a vertical migration, aside from the usual pilgrimages north and south which are known to the more level portions of North America. The migratory journeys up and down the mountains occur with a regularity that amounts to a system; yet so far as regards these movements each species must be studied for itself, each having manners that are all its own.
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Handbook Of Birds Of The Western United States

Including The Great Plains, Great Basin, Pacific Slope, And Lower Rio Grande Valley

Florence Merriam Bailey

Thirty Three full page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and over six hundred cuts in the text

Houghton Mifflin & Co

1902

Preface:

The preparation of this book has been facilitated by the good offices of many ornithologists. To Mr. Robert Ridgway and Dr. C. Hart Merriam I am indebted for use of the National Museum and Biological Survey collections, and to Mr. Ridgway for generous help in the study of the museum skins. I am also indebted to Mr. Ridgway for use of the proof of his forthcoming Part II. of Birds of North and Middle America, and to Dr. Merriam for use of the Biological Survey records. Dr. X. K. Fisher has given me kindly advice at all points and important help by a critical reading of the entire manuscript, with especial examination of distributions. From my husband, Mr. Vernon Bailey, I have had untiring advice and assistance, in addition to the preparation of the water bird descriptions and keys, and a large number of biographies of both water and land birds. Mr. E. W. Nelson has generously corrected and extended the ranges of the birds in Mexico, and Mr. H. C. Oberholser has rendered much valuable critical aid, while Dr. T. S. Palmer has contributed an important chapter on bird protection. Local lists of much value to students have kindly been furnished by Mr. A. W. Anthony, Mr. Joseph Grinnell, Mr. Walter K. Fisher, Mr. William H. Kobbe, and Mr. Frank Bond, to whom, as to all those who have helped in the preparation of the book, I would express my sincere gratitude and appreciation.
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Upland Game Birds

Edwin Sandys and T.S. Van Dyke

Illustrations: L.A. Fuertes, A.B. Frost, J.O. Nugent, C.L. Bull

The Macmillan Company

1902

Opening lines:

Despite the leagues of virgin paper and gallons of ink which have been wedded to produce the story and the glory of the shooting of the American "quail," the interesting fact remains - there's no such bird. If at the time of this writing there be true quail alive and free in the United States of America, either the birds or their immediate ancestors have been imported. The quail of the Bible story, the heaven-sent meat to the famished, was a true quail, but the bird is not a native of this country. And, in passing, it may not be out of place to remark that latter-day scientific knowledge only sustains, as it does in so many other instances, the absolute truth of the ancient record. Under conditions likely to prevail at a certain season of any year, great flocks of migrating quail not only might, but probably would, act as did their ancestors in days of old.
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Seventh Report Of The Forest, Fish And Game Commission Of The State Of New York

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and many others

1902

This publication includes the seventh report (for 1901) plus a number of additional papers. One of these papers Economic Value Of Birds To The State by Frank M. Chapman is accompanied by twelve colour plates by Fuertes.

Opening lines of paper by Frank M. Chapman:

The bird is the property of the State. From this fundamental conception of the bird's legal status there can be no logical ground for dissent. If a certain species of bird is conclusively proven to be injurious to the agricultural or other interests of the State, no one would deny the State's right to destroy that species. If, on the contrary, a species is shown to be beneficial, then the State has an equal right to protect it. Indeed, we may go further and say it is not only the right, but the duty of the State to give to its birds the treatment they deserve. Here is the great Commonwealth of New York with agricultural and forestry industries which annually yield products valued at $266,000,000. In the closest relation to the welfare of these industries stands a group of animals represented by some 350 species and millions of individuals. Obviously, then, it is the first duty of the State to learn definitely in what way or ways the presence of these incalculably abundant creatures affects its crops and forests.
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Alaska: Volume I: Narrative, Glaciers, Natives

John Burroughs, John Muir and George Bird Grinnell

Color plates: Landscapes: R. Swain Gifford, Fred S. Dellenbaugh, C. Hart Merriam

Color plates: Birds: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Color plates: Mammals: Charles R. Knight

Color plates: Flowers: Frederick A. Walpole

Text figures: A.H. Baldwin, W.E. Spader, Louise M. Keeler, S.B. Nichols, L.A. Fuertes, Charles B. Hudson and others

Harriman Alaska Expedition with cooperation of Washington Academy Of Science

Doubleday, Page & Company

1901

From the introduction:

In the early spring of 1899 Mr. Edward H. Harriman of New York, in cooperation with the Washington Academy of Sciences but entirely at his own expense, organized an expedition to Alaska. He invited as his guests three artists and twenty-five men of science, representing various branches of research and including well known professors in universities on both sides of the continent, and leaders in several branches of Government scientific work. Those from the east left New York by special train May 23, 1899; those from the far west joined the party at Portland and Seattle a week later. In crossing the continent side trips were made to Shoshone Falls, Boise City, and Lewiston, Idaho. At Lewiston the party was met by a special steamer and conveyed down the canyon of Snake River to its mouth in the Columbia, where the train was in waiting. The Expedition sailed from Seattle May 30, on the steamship Geo. W. Elder, especially chartered for the purpose, and was gone just two months.
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Alaska: Volume II: History, Geography, Resources

William H. Dall, Charles Keeler, Henry Gannett, William H. Brewer, C. Hart Merriam, George Bird Grinnell and M.L. Washburn

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes and many others

Harriman Alaska Expedition with cooperation of Washington Academy Of Science

Doubleday, Page & Company

1901

Opening lines:

The history of Alaska is practically the history of exploration and trade along its coasts and within its borders. It may be conveniently divided into characteristic periods. First comes the era of discovery and exploration by independent parties of Cossacks, hunters, and fur-traders, whose reports led to the dispatch of the official expeditions commanded by Bering, whose discoveries, in turn, opened the floodgates for a tide of adventurers. This period may be said to comprise the whole of the eighteenth century up to June, 1799. The second period began with the chartering of an imperial monopoly, the Russian-American Company, to which was confided in that year the control and exploitation of the Russian possessions in America. The characteristic figure in the panorama of the events of this era is BaranofF. In 1867 a third period began with the American occupation of the territory; followed by the lease of the seal islands to the Alaska Commercial Company, and by the exploitation of the fisheries. A condition of anarchy prevailed over the greater part of the Territory, due to legislative neglect and executive indifference. With the opening of the Klondike gold fields in 1895, a fourth era began, into which the country has barely entered, and the outcome of which it is yet too soon to predict. So far it has been characterized by renewed exploration; by the grant from Congress of some tardy and far from adequate legislation looking toward good order and settlement ; by the exhaustion of the fur trade ; and by the development of mineral resources in the line of the precious metals.
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The Woodpeckers

Fannie Hardy Eckstrom

Colour illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Line drawings: John L. Ridgway

Houghton Mifflin & Co

1901

From the foreword:

"This is purposely a little book, dealing only with a single group of birds, treating particularly only some of the commoner species of that group, taking up only a few of the problems that present themselves to the naturalist for solution, and aiming rather to make the reader acquainted with the birds than learned about them. The woodpeckers were selected in preference to any other family because they are patient under observation, easily identified, resident in all parts of the country both in summer and in winter, and because more than any other birds they leave behind them records of their work which may be studied after the birds have flown. The book provides ample means for identifying every species and subspecies of woodpecker known in North America, though only five of the commonest and most interesting species have been selected for special study. At least three of these five should be found in almost every part of the country. The Californian woodpecker is never seen in the East, nor the red-headed in the far West, but the downy and the hairy are resident nearly everywhere, and some species of the flickers and sapsuckers, if not always the ones chosen for special notice, are visitors in most localities."
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The Second Book Of Birds: Bird Families

Olive Thorne Miller

Eight color plates from drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and sixteen other full page illustrations

Houghton Mifflin & Co

1901

From the preface:

In introducing each family I have selected the most common, or the typical species of that family. In cases where it was possible, I have chosen species represented in the different sections of the country, not only because the family traits are better shown, but because it is more encouraging to a beginner to become acquainted with birds he can see almost anywhere. When familiar with these, he will be able to identify and study the more rare species. It may be thought that I have not dwelt sufficiently on the generally assumed evil tendencies of certain birds. I have tried to be perfectly just, but there has been so much exaggeration and sensationalism in writing of birds, that I have been careful to investigate all accusations. Much harm has been done by guessing at a bird's motives, and assuming always that he is in mischief. I have rejected all conjectures of the sort, and accepted only what has been thoroughly proved, and reported by trustworthy witnesses.
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On The Birds' Highway

Reginald Heber Howe

Color frontispiece: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Photographs by the author

Small, Maynard & Company

1899

Preface:

It is my hope that these little Sketches may lead others to enjoy all that I have enjoyed On the Birds' Highway. The appendix contains a number of lists of birds from those localities treated in the body of the book, which may be of some value to field ornithologists. I wish to thank Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes for his great kindness in presenting me with the frontispiece, the Editors of the Boston "Commonwealth" and "Transcript" for their permission to reprint a number of the chapters which have appeared in their papers, and also many other friends for kind assistance in various ways.
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Birdcraft: A Field Book Of Two Hundred Song, Game, And Water Birds

Mabel Osgood Wright

80 plates: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

The Macmillan Company

New edition

1899

First published in 1895. The 1899 edition was the first edition to feature plates by L.A. Fuertes.

From the opening lines:

"Do you want to know the birds and call them by their familiar names? You may do so if you will, provided you have keen eyes and a pocket full of patience; patience is the salt of the bird-catching legend. ..... The way is plain for those who wish to study the science of ornithology and have time to devote to the pursuit; its literature is exhaustive, and no country offers a more inter- esting variety of species than our own. But for the novice, who wishes to identify easily the birds that surround him, to recognize their songs and give them their English names, the work at first seems difficult. There are many scientific terms, containing their own definitions, that lose force and exactness when translated into simpler language, requiring a dozen words to give the meaning of one. There is a comforting fact, however, for the novice, that while scientific nomenclature has been and is constantly changing, the com- mon names, that science also recognizes, remain practically unchanged. Our Bluebird bears the same name as in Audubon's day, and the Meadowlark, who has been moved from one genus to another, is called the Meadowlark still."
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Results Of A Biological Survey Of Mount Shasta, California

C. Hart Merriam

B/W plates: L.A. Fuertes, Ernest S. Thompson and others

B/W photographs

North American Fauna, Number 16

Division Of Biological Survey

US Department Of Agriculture

1899

Includes a 26 page section on the birds of Mount Shasta.

From the introduction:

At the close of the field season of 1897 the Biological Survey had nearly completed a reconnaissance of Washington and Oregon, and in previous years had carried its operations over extensive tracts in southern, middle, and northeastern California, so that with the exception of a rather large area in northern California fully two-thirds of the Pacific States had been covered. In 1898, therefore, the unworked part of northern California, reaching from the Madeline Plains on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west, and from the Oregon boundary on the north to Lassen Butte and adjacent parts of the Sierra on the south, came to be the principal field of our investigations. In this area Mount Shasta occupies a nearly central position. All high mountains, particularly those that stand alone, are likely to throw light on the problems of geographic distribution and are worthy of careful study. Shasta, not only because of its great altitude, but even more because of its intermediate position between the Sierra and the Cascades, promised an instructive lesson, and was therefore chosen as a base station for part of the field work of 1898.
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Birds Of Village And Field: A Bird Book For Beginners

Florence A. Merriam

B/W plates: L.A. Fuertes, Ernest S. Thompson, John L. Ridgway and others

Houghton Mifflin And Company

1898

From the preface:

In this day of outdoor and nature interest, we are coming to realize that to the birds as well as the flowers we owe much of the beauty and charm of country life; and if it could be accomplished within the narrow margins of our busy lives, we would gladly know more of the songsters. Their prevalence, though often unsuspected, helps render this possible; for they are to be found in villages and cities as well as in the fields. In a shrubby back yard in Chicago, close to one of the main thoroughfares, Mrs. Sara Hubbard has seen fifty-seven species in a year, and her record for ten years was a hundred species. In an orchard in Brattleboro', Vermont, Mrs. E. B. Davenport has noted seventy-nine species in a year. And within the limits of Portland, Connecticut, Mr. John H. Sage has known ninety-nine kinds of birds to nest. In the larger cities, cemeteries and parks offer rare opportunities for bird study. Dr. W. C. Braislin gives a list of seventy-six species for Prospect Park, Brooklyn; while Mr. H. E. Parkhurst has himself seen ninety-four species in Central Park, and as many as a hundred and forty-two have been recorded altogether. The question, then, is not one of finding birds, but of knowing their names when they are found; and here the way of the beginner is hard. Years of experience with field classes of such beginners has made me appreciate the peculiar disadvantages under which they labor, and I have written this book to make it possible for them to know the birds without shooting them.
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Citizen Bird: Scenes From Bird-Life In Plain English For Beginners

Mabel Osgood Wright and Elliott Coues

111 illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

The MacMIllan Company

1897

From the opening chapter:

"A party of Swallows perched on the telegraph wires beside the highway where it passed Orchard Farm. They were resting after a breakfast of insects, which they had caught on the wing, after the custom of their family. As it was only the first of May they had plenty of time before nest-building, and so were having a little neighborly chat. If you had glanced at these birds carelessly, you might have thought they were all of one kind; but they were not. The smallest was the Bank Swallow, a sober-hued little fellow, with a short, sharp-pointed tail, his back feathers looking like a dusty brown cloak, fastened in front by a neck-band between his light throat and breast. Next to him perched the Barn Swallow, a bit larger, with a tail like an open pair of glistening scissors and his face and throat a beautiful ruddy buff. There were so many glints of color on his steel-blue back and wings, as he spread them in the sun, that it seemed as if in some of his flights he must have collided with a great soap-bubble, which left its shifting hues upon him as it burst. This Barn Swallow was very much worried about something, and talked so fast to his friend the Tree Swallow, that his words sounded like twitters and giggles; but you would know they were words, if you could only understand them."
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Song Birds And Water Fowl

H.E. Parkhurst

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Charles Scribner's Sons

1897

From the opening chapter:

"About the middle of May one always finds here not only a remarkable variety of species, representative of all our land-birds, but an immense number of specimens of all the various sorts. Leaving the train at Hackensack, two miles south of Englewood, and inquiring for the road leading thither of a gentleman who thought it preposterous that I should wish to walk, when I could just as well have ridden - thus betraying the fact that he was not a naturalist - I at once found myself in the midst of a company of clear-voiced field-sparrows. Simple and artless as it is, nothing in the range of mu- sic could have expressed more happily the spirit of peace pervading the pastoral scene to which I had come, with the harsh rattle of city pave- ments as yet hardly out of my ears. Pretention is as far from the heart of any sparrow as the east is from the west; but, in this respect, perhaps the bashful little field-sparrow beats them all; for he is the very embodiment of modesty. Sometimes he mounts a little way up a tree, and delivers his apologetic little message ; but often he is too humble even to do that, and will stand on the ground, throw up his tiny red bill, and pour forth his mild and sweet salute. The note of the field-sparrow is like a pleasant word dropped in the morning, that dissolves into a faint radiance for the entire day."
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A-Birding On A Bronco

Florence A. Merriam

Illustrations: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Houghton, Mifflin & Company

1897

Prefatory note:

"The notes contained in this book were taken from March to May, 1889, and from March to July, 1894, at Twin Oaks in southern California. Twin Oaks is the post-office for the scattered ranch-houses in a small valley at the foot of one of the Coast Ranges, thirty-four miles north of San Diego, and twelve miles from the Pacific. As no collecting was done, there is doubt about the identity of a few species; and their names are left blank or questioned in the list of birds referred to in the text. In cases where the plumage of the two sexes is practically identical, and only slight mention is made of the species, the sexes have sometimes been arbitrarily distinguished in the text. Several of the articles have appeared before, in somewhat different form, in The Auk, The Observer, and Our Animal Friends; all the others are published here for the first time. The illustrations are from drawing's of birds and nests by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and from photographs taken in the valley; together with some of eucalyptus-trees from Los Angeles, for the use of which I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division of Forestry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In the preparation of the book I have been kindly assisted by Miss Isabel Eaton, and have received from my brother, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, untiring criticism and advice."
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Last updated July 2014