Lawrence Kilham

"During my first year at Harvard, in 1928, I became fascinated with the universitys Museum of Comparative Zoology. How exciting for a mere freshman to meet and talk to such famous ornithologists as . ... In succeeding years Griscom, aided by , who was just bringing out his first bird guide, became the great figure who built up the type of —pretty much limited to finding rarities, listing species seen, and census taking—that has now become a national pastime. I remember arguments about this new approach to birding back then. The clincher for the Grissom-Peterson type of birding was that it was competitive. ... By the time I was a junior at Harvard I found my interest in this type of birding wearing thin."

"Professionally Lawrence Kilham is a who teaches at , but he is widely known for his papers on bird behavior, particularly those dealing with s. Never Enough of Nature is a personal account of the experiences with wild and captive animals that provided data for many of the scientific papers. The book was illustrated by the authors relatives, primarily his wife, Jane. The early chapters of the book deal with field experiences in South Carolina and Georgia, but others take the reader to Africa, Panama, and New England."

"... in the north are as wary as . They make a low pecking, the blows coming slowly, when excavating in rotting logs and trunks. It is these sounds that I follow in trying for a view of their activities. They someties work on large s and s, digging into the where have their galleries."

"When I began studying birds at age fourteen, I was fortunate in having s Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America and s Birds of Massachusetts and other New England States, the three volumes of which were then just coming out. I remember carrying Chapmans handbook with me into the woods and sitting on a stump to identify a beautiful bird I had seen—yellow on the belly with a black bib, and bright red on throat and crown—a ! I had made a discovery by myself. If I have carried my boyhood enthusiasm for learning about birds into old age, it is in part because by interest has never been dulled by too many classes, lectures, workshops, meetings, or other experiences that can kill initiative. It is better to learn ten birds on ones own than several hundred following a leader. Learning on ones own is especially important if you want to make discoveries. ... Watching birds and other animals for enjoyment should be something that makes us think."

"The chapters of this book present a sampling from his lifetime of behavior watching, the s liberally salted with philosophy and quotes from past and present nature watchers. Kilham strongly believes that great satisfaction can be derived from sitting in one place and learning about in depth. He always prefers to be unobtrustive in his watching and never, for example, has . He suggests that it is best to learn about a bird first hand and then read about it. ... ... Kilham writes well and is obviously a very experienced and keen observer of nature. If you are a behavior watcher you will love this book. If you are not, you probably ought to read it anyway. It may stimulate some new interests and in the long run increase the pleasure you get from birds."

"We walked lonely es and s, and we delighted in and s, but we made no great lists. Books that I like at the time were books written by observers, people doing the kind of that I wanted to do; books such as Henry Bestons and s Beach Grass. They exemplified an idea type of natural history: you lived within walking distance of a beach, marsh, woods, or mountain and started observing."

"The huge, forward-projecting of the male is his chief sexual characteristic and white skin aournd the eye is a peculiarity of the female. Many African s have brightly colored patches of skin and wattles about the head and neck."