Sparrows and Finches of the Great Lakes Region and Eastern North America

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

These useful little books are designed for nature lovers living in
eastern Canada and the eastern United States who might be called
intermediate birders: more than fumbling beginners but less than
seasoned experts.

For non-birders, birds are merely two-legged creatures who can
(generally) fly. For those who get more interested, there are two
choices so far as bird books are concerned: either an elementary
handbook of the “birds-in-your garden” sort or a fairly advanced
field guide put out by, say, Roger Tory Peterson or the National
Geographic. The former are initially helpful—one soon learns to
distinguish ducks from gulls or woodpeckers from thrushes—but
ultimately outlive their usefulness. Sooner or later, an unusual bird
appears that is not included. The latter, though of long-lasting value,
can be bewildering at first; there are so many birds that look
superficially alike!

This is where the books under review come into their own. When one gets
beyond the stage of murmuring “one of those little brown jobs,” when
one is no longer content with Peterson’s now-famous blanket term
“confusing fall warblers,” these books can be extremely valuable.
They are concise, each 128 pages long (plus an extra three-page flip-out
in Warblers). With the exception of rarities and vagrants, each species
is assigned at least two pages. Both books are generously illustrated by
colour photographs (excellent so long as one also has access to
artists’ drawings in a larger, comprehensive bird book). Each species
is illustrated by at least two photos, often three or four, occasionally
as many as seven; they portray male and female, adult and immature,
breeding and non-breeding plumage, whenever these are distinctive.

Each entry contains a description, a reference to similar birds, a
brief account of songs and calls, and a series of informative notes on
relevant general and specific matters. The Warblers book also provides a
particularly welcome special feature: the flip-out with photos of mature
adults in spring plumage reproduced close together for easy comparison.
In both books, so-called “cheat sheets” offer handy
process-of-elimination charts (wing-bars or no wing-bars, streaked or
unstreaked breasts, etc.) for difficult cases.

There is also a range map for each species, and this is the one place
where I would register a slight reservation. It is invariably a map of
the entire American continent, south as well as north, despite the fact
that only one-eighth of the sparrows and finches and only a minority of
the warblers in question occur in South America (and these generally as
winter visitors). Surely it would have been possible, as in most bird
books, to vary the map according to the distribution of the individual
bird, thus enabling the North American range, in most cases, to be shown
more accurately.

But this is a decidedly minor complaint. These are admirable books,
easy to use and (always a significant consideration for birders) light
to carry. Moreover, even experienced birders, who can identify most of
these birds readily, will find these guides useful to have on their
shelves for consultation when inevitable controversies arise. I
recommend both books highly.