Table Of Content

— Wilson Bull., 111(2), 1999, pp. 294-301 Ornithological Literature Edited by William E. Davis, Jr. SWALLOW SUMMER. By Charles R. threads in the texture of Brown’s account. If Brown. Univ. Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Ne- you have worked for a long time on one spe- braska. 1998: xiii + 371 pp.,—black-and-white cies, spent a summer with students at a field photographs. $16.95 (paper). For the past 15 station, love western Nebraska, have struggled years, Charles R. Brown and his wife Mary to fund and run a field research project, or have studied Cliff Swallows {Petrochelidon simply would enjoy a good account of how pyrrhonota) at Cedar Point Biological Station field ornithologists—see the world, you will ap- CHARLES BLEM. in the Sand Hills of western Nebraska. The preciate this book. R. Browns’ research was (and continues to be) highly productive, partly because the swallows proved to be excellent research material. Cliff Swallows make mud nests in colonies ATLAS OF BREEDING BIRDS OF IN- that may range from a few birds to thousands. DIANA. By John S. Castrale, Edward M. The swallows are relatively easy to capture Hopkins, and Charles E. Keller. Available (but provide the basis for many adventures) from: Indiana Department of Natural Resourc- and are tolerant of extensive handling. Their es, Customer Service Center, 402 W. Wash- natural history is relevant to numerous issues ington St., Rm. W160, Indianapolis, IN in the basic ecology of birds and to the un- 46204. 1998: 388 pp., 14 numbered text figs., derstanding group behavior of animals. 7 tables, 158 range maps. $20 plus $3.50 s&h, This book is a non-scientific account of $1 sales tax for Indiana residents (cloth). how the Browns came to work on this bird The Indiana Nongame and Endangered Wild- and the trials and tribulations of one season life Program of the Indiana Department of of their studies. Each year they arrive in Ne- Natural Resources sponsored this atlas pro- braska in May in advance of the first swal- ject, coordinating the nearly 600 volunteers lows. They capture, band, weigh, and measure and paid “block busters” during the fieldwork birds until the swallows stop breeding in late conducted from 1985-1990. Workers targeted July. With the help of numerous assistants, 647 “priority blocks,” west-central of the six they have obtained data from thousands of blocks of each U.S. Geological Survey IV2 swallows. In fact, their total sample size for topographic map of the state. A series of maps some measurements must be in six figures! depict counties, public lands, rivers, urban ar- The writing is clear, funny, insightful, in- eas, natural regions, forested ai'eas (with sep- teresting, and informative. If you have more arate maps for evergreen-deciduous and than a passing interest in swallows, group be- shrubland-early successional woodlands), ag- havior, or basic avian ecology, you should also ricultural row-crops, pastureland, and marshes read the scientific account, “Coloniality in the and open water. In an attempt to provide some Cliff Swallow: the effect of group size on so- indices of abundance, atlas accounts used cial behavior” (co-authored with Mary Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Summer Brown; 1996, Univ. Chicago Press), if you Bird Count (SBC) data for the 1985-1990 pe- have not already done so. riod. The SBC uses the county as the sampling Prairie thunderstorms, clouds of birds, the area, and counts are conducted on multiple mysteries of bird behavior, quotes from west- days during June. A table lists in rank order ern movies (especially from “Lonesome the percentage of blocks in which a species Dove”!), the deep pleasures of spending the was detected (e.g., American Robin, Turdus summer at a field station, the behavior of field rnigratorius, 100%, rank = 1), abundance val- assistants, the dirt/frustration/exhaustion of ues and rank for BBS routes, and birds/party long da—ys in the field, the satisfaction of dis- hour and rank for SBCs. covery these are just a few of the rich A biogeographic analysis by J. Dan Web- 294