STRAY FEATHERS FROM A BIRD MAN'S DESK

These shorter pieces, which were originally drafted for the Chicago Natural History Museum Bulletin and then migrated on to other publications are by the Curator of Birds of that institution and provide a ""well-filled whatnot"" of odd ornithological fact. Birds' habits and habitats, courting and nesting variations (some wives are even walled-in), bathing and grooming, cooperative living- which includes baby sitting; birds which can be trained to fish- or as honey-guides; their gardens and graveyards; the palatability of certain species- or their nests- an Oriental delicacy--- all this wins many points of respect for that rara avis and others more familiar and shares some little known ways and wonders of the natural world.