In the Field, Among the Feathered: A History of Birders & Their Guides

摘要

According to the most recent National Survey of Recreation and Environment (NSRE 2000), some 69 million Americans could answer "yes" to this question: "During the past 12 months, did you view, identify, or photograph birds?" No matter what their level of expertise or passion, they might well be asked another question: "How do you know what you're seeing?" The answer, of course, is the field guide, probably most commonly a well-thumbed copy of Roger Tory Peterson's classic A Field Guide to the Birds, or now perhaps one of a host of newer works by David Sibley and others. But as Thomas Dunlap argues in this insightful guide to guidebooks, such books have a history, and since their first appearance in the late nineteenth century, they have done more than just help readers identify birds. In many ways, they have also encouraged the ornithological enthusiast to think more broadly about the place of birds-and perhaps themselves-in the American environment.