Birds of America

xliv, 272, 271, 289 pp. 11 x 8 1/2. A guide to North American birds, illustrated with color plates from paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and black-and-white photographs and drawings by various contributors. CONTENTS: PART I: Preface; Introduction; Out-Door Bird Study; Bird Migration; Order of Diving Birds: Grebes; Loons; Auks, Murres, and Puffins; Order of Long-Winged Swimmers: Skuas and Jaegers; Gulls; Terns; Skimmers; Order of Tube-Nosed Swimmers: Albatrosses; Fulmars, Shearwaters, and Petrels; Order of Totipalmated Swimmers: Tropic-Birds; Gannets; Darters; Cormorants; Pelicans; Man-o'-War-Birds; Order of Lamellirostral Swimmers: Mergansers; Ducks; Geese; Swans; Order of Lamellirostral Grallatores (Flamingoes); Order of Herons, Storks, Ibises, Etc.: Spoonbills, Ibises, and Storks; Heron Family; Order of Marsh-Dwellers: Cranes and Courlans; Rails; Gallinules, and Coots; Order of Shore Birds: Phalaropes; Avocets and Stilts; Snipes, Sandpipers, Etc.; Plovers; Surf-Birds and Turnstones; Oyster-Catchers; PART II: Order of Gallinaceous Birds: Bob-Whites and Quails; Grouse; Turkeys; Pheasants; Order of Pigeons and Doves; Order of Birds of Prey: Vultures; Eagles, Hawks, and Kites; Falcons; Caracaras; Ospreys; Owls; Order of Parrot-Like Birds; Order of Cuckoos, Etc.: Cuckoo Family; Trogons; Kingfishers; Order of Woodpeckers; Order of Goatsuckers, Swifts, Etc.: Goatsuckers; Swifts; Hummingbirds; Order of Perching Birds: Tyrant Flycatchers; Larks; Crows and Jays; Starlings; Icteridae; PART III: Order of Perching Birds, Continued: Finches; Tanagers; Swallows; Waxwings and Silky Flycatchers; Shrikes; Vireos; Warblers; Wagtails and Pipits; Dippers; Mimic Thrushes; Wrens; Nuthatches and Creepers; Titmice; Wren-Tits; Kinglets and Gnatcatchers; Thrushes; Color Keys; Glossary; Bibliography; Index. "Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874 – 1927) was an American ornithologist, illustrator and artist. Fuertes decided to concentrate on painting birds as a career after meeting Elliott Coues in 1894 while on a trip to Washington, D.C. with the Cornell University Glee Club. He would receive the first of his many commissions for illustrating birds while still an undergraduate. At Cornell, he was elected to the Sphinx Head Society, the oldest senior honor society at the University. In 1899, he accompanied E. H. Harriman on his famous exploration of the Alaska coastline. Following this, Fuertes would travel across much of the United States and to many countries in pursuit of birds, including the Bahamas, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and Ethiopia. Fuertes collaborated with Frank Chapman, Curator of the Museum of Natural History, on many assignments including field research, background dioramas at the museum, and book illustrations. While on a collecting expedition with Chapman in Mexico, Fuertes discovered a species of oriole. Chapman would name the bird after his friend, Iceterus fuertesi, commonly called Fuertes' Oriole."