Evening star., 1944-03-03
This and That
By Charles E. Trdcepell.
PORTER STREET.

PORTER STREET.
Dear Sir:
you had list of books on birds in
your column not long ago, but didn't
see one on the birds in this locality.
Gould you give me the title Of one
on the birds indigenous to this section,
Maryland, Virginia and Washington,
D. c.? I should prefer colored plates.
Il have been able to identify quite
few birds from reading your column.
Thank you kindly.
Sincerely, r. S."
X
Any bird book which deals with the
species east of the Rocky Mountains
will do very we'll for identification pur-
poses in this area.
The District Of Columbia is fortu-
nately situated for songbirds. It gets
them both coming and going In migra-
ton.
Great "fyways" are located not too
far from the city. These are roads Of
the air, as it were, for the migrators
Hundreds of thousands fly these routes
in spring and fall Naturally, thousands
of species drop down, now and then, to
get something to eat and drink.
Washington is sort of dividing line
between the North and South, in a
natural as well as political sense.
Birds fly southland many of them
go no farther than hereabouts. Birds
fly north-and many of them decide this
is far enough.
X
Birds of America" edited by T. Gil
bert Pearson, and published by Garden
{c
work.
1t is really three volumes in one, and
contains scores of excellent plates in
color
Bird Portraits in Color" by Thomas
Sadler Roberts, and published by the
University of Minnesota Press, is an
other fine work. Its color plates, which
include all the birds to be seen around
here, are especially good. They are by
Allan Brooks, George Miksch Sutton,
Walter Alois Weber, Francis Lee Jaques,
Walter John Breckenridge and one plate
by the late Louis Agassiz Fuertes.
Land Birds East Of the Rockies" by
Chester A. Reed, published by Double
day, Doran g. Co., is good pocket-sized
work. It is well illustrated. This Is the
cheapest of the works mentioned and
will do very nicely for Identification in
the home garden.
Birds of the Washington Region" by
May Thatcher Cooke, was published and
issued in 1929 as part of the proceedings
of the Biological Society of Washington.
This is a paper-bound booklet OF some
80 pages. It has no illustrations, but
gives some interesting data about the
local songsters.
There are many more books about
birds which come to this area.
Most of them have their good points.
One friend Of birds will like one, the
next will prefer another work.
The point is to become really familiar
with the work one buys, and to be able
to find what oneslooks for in q hurry,
if necessary.
1t may thus be realized that a book
labeled Birds of the District of Colum-
bia" is not really necessary, since this is
a well-located place for bird study, more
than 300 species coming to it during the
year. Some of them remain here the
year around.
Any good bird book showing the spe-
cies OF the Eastern seaboard will do
nicely
The last fonnal attempt, as far as we
know, to publish q book specifically on
Washington bird life was Lucy Warner
Maynard's birds Of washington and
Vicinity" including adjacent parts Of
Maryland and Virginia. This was is
sued in 1898, with q revised edition In
1902. Both are hard to ind today.