THE AMERICAN EAGLE.

By Francis Hobart Herrick '81. D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc. 1934.

Among Dartmouth alumni there seems to be a decided leaning towards a certain, quite modern type of biographical study, in which the most intimate details of the individual's private life are carefully examined and recorded. One biographer of this group has even told us how many times and for how long the subject of his work is known to leave his bed at night! In this case the story is that of a rather commonplace individual, but the interests of the two other alumni to whom I refer is in those of royal blood, the latter dealing with the life of a king. The painstaking work on the first of the three has already been published, that on the second is ardently hoped for, while the third is the subject of this notice. The house wren, the American peregrine falcon and the American eagle form the interests of these alumni.

To stand upon the summit of a tower, nearly one hundred feet high, and less than half that distance from the eyrie of an eagle, to be able to watch every incident and every movement in the rearing of a family of bald-headed eagles, was the unique achievement of Professor Herrick of Adelbert College. The only regret that the reviewer has in reading this book is that the author has modestly devoted almost his entire attention to the subjects of his biography, when a fuller account of the trials, experiences and thrills of the observers would have been most welcome.

This unprecedented kind of biography required years of work, great ingenuity and perseverance against all kinds of obstacles, including the blowing down of one nesting tree and one tower, failure of one set of eggs to hatch, danger of lightning during severe thunderstorms, unwanted publicity, and even the shooting by some "sportsman" of one of the parent eagles. Observations were carried on for over three months to get the story of one of the families studied day by day without let-up from dawn to dark, even with the temperature going over one hundred degrees, by Mr. Herrick and three other observers, including Dr. Everett C. Myers, later an instructor at Dartmouth.

The scientific records of this work have been published in The Auk, while TheAmerican Eagle is written with less detail for the general public. The history of an eagle family, the development of the eaglets from the first pipping of the egg until the first free flight from the nest, the assiduous care by both parents of their young, their wariness and devotion, their clever hunting and continuous watchfulness over their family—all this makes fascinating reading. The story is also given in a large series of marvellous photographs, showing every phase of the life of the family, both young and old.

The last few chapters take up rather fully the use of the eagle as a symbol from earliest times to the present. Mr. Herrick well justifies his contention that the eagle is no mere "robber" or "coward" as Benjamin Franklin and others have stated, but rather that it is truly a king among birds. But "the eagle has learned from bitter experience that he is king of birds only, and that where man enters the picture, caution and circumspection are the price of his life, liberty and independence." A brave and clever bird, worthy to be the emblem of our nation, is the American eagle, and, after reading this book, the reviewer is convinced that Mr. Herrick is a brave and clever biographer.