Book Reviews from \u3ci\u3eNebraska Bird Review\u3c/i\u3e (September 1990)

BOOK REVIEWS A Parrot without a Name The Search for the Last Unknown Birds on Earth Don Stap, 240 pp. index, 6 x 9, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, $19.95 This is an account of a 1987 collecting expedition to Peru for Louisiana State University, led by John O\u27Neill. He had already described 11 new species of birds and was still looking. Peru has 1700 known species of birds and still counting. It took them two days by outboard-powered dugouts to get to the camp site from the last settlement. Later, with higher water, two natives made it in a day, but the water was so low when they broke camp that most of the participants had to walk out, taking eight days. And in between accounts of this expedition Stap includes notes on another expedition with Ted Parker and reports of other expeditions and comments on other topics of collateral interest, such as why South America has such a variety of birds. The book should be of interest to anyone interested in birds, in adventure, in conditions in back-country South America and more. EXPLORING THE WORLO OF BIRDS Adrian Forsyth and Laurel Aziz, 72 pp., 8.25 x 8.25, index, Camden House, Charlotte, VT, cloth $15.95, paperback $9.95. The 1991 Bird Identification Calendar, illustrated by John Sill, 11 x 14, The Stephen Greene Press, New York, $9.95. Rare Birds of the World, 1991 Calendar, text by Guy Mountfort, illustrations by Norman Arlott, 11 x 14, The Stephen Greene Press, New York, $10.95