With Ptarmigan and Tundra Wolves

Victor Clulow is a zoology professor at Laurentian University.

This illustrated memoir by a professional zoologist with the good
fortune to have spent time in the Canadian North is pleasingly and
directly written. The literary device of dialogue, used extensively in
this account, is tricky and often poorly done, but here generally
succeeds in providing insight into the thoughts and emotions of those
who face the rigors, the delights, and the dangers of a land far removed
from the experience of most readers. There are, however, some lapses:
exchanges seem a little contrived or forced in places. In particular,
one reported to have taken place in 1963 on the subject of oil
spills—“. . . and have blowouts or accidents such as have occurred
in the Gulf of Mexico, Valdez, and the Strait of Hormuz, heaven only
knows what will happen to the beluga whales, seabirds . . .”—seems
an unlikely conversation between newlyweds looking out over the Anderson
River delta. Neither the author’s details of chitchat with visiting
American oil drillers (quaintly detailed) nor the reported radio
exchange with a reindeer herder are completely convincing. The text is
sprinkled with interesting anecdotes and first-hand observations of the
natural world, and is illustrated with the author’s photographs, the
majority being close shots of animals, many in high-quality color.
Curiously, except where the effects of camouflage are being illustrated,
many close-up photographs lack a focused background. The effect, while
drawing attention to the subject, imparts a surreal and at times even
sinister or ghostly quality to the illustrations. An interesting and
entertaining book, well worth purchasing.