BIRDLORE

An elegant tribute to Florence Merriam Bailey (1863-1948), a passionate ornithologist who revolutionized the way scientists and general nature lovers study birds.

In language as lush and floral as Holzwarth’s verdant outdoor scenes, Keating introduces a child who delighted in sitting patiently in the woods with “violets, tiger lilies, and trilliums at her feet,” not only in order to watch birds, but also to take careful notes on their features and behavior. As an adult, outraged by the contemporary fashion of piling feathers and dead birds atop women’s hats, she went on to a long lifetime of popularizing bird watching rather than harvesting. She promoted protective legislation and led “bird walks” of local followers kitted out with opera glasses. Finally, “with the stirring song of a hermit thrush in her heart,” she turned her years of notes into a series of field guides suitable for professionals and the general public alike. The author makes a solid case that the obscurity Bailey fell into after “her soul took wing” (as she puts it) in 1948 is undeserved. The illustrator closes with a labeled gallery of common birds for readers to spot on the earlier pages or, better yet, outdoors, following a set of basic bird-watching suggestions and guidelines. A few brown faces can be glimpsed among the groups of female students and bird lovers attired in flowing late-19th-century dress who attend the light-skinned crusader’s lectures and expeditions.

A high-toned and attractively illustrated profile.