Life Histories of North American Birds

"A web browser-based electronic book collection of Life Histories of North American Birds, selected from the hundreds of species biographies assembled and written by Arthur Cleveland Bent and his collaborators and published in a twenty-one volume series between 1919 and 1968 by the United States Government Printing Office. "

About the Work of Arthur Cleveland Bent (1866-1954)

His extraordinary Life Histories of North American Birds, published in a twenty-one volume series (1919-1968), provided behavioral information not available in the standard field guides. These pioneering studies are the durable foundation on which almost all other compilations of North American bird biology (including the contemporary Birds of North America) rest. In them Bent and his collaborators present, in enthusiastic, readable prose, comprehensive information about courtship, nesting, eggs, young, plumages, food, behavior, voice, enemies, and more. Readers who supplement their field guides with these delightful accounts acquire a deeper understanding of both the birds and their observers (as well as an interesting cultural history lesson).

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