THE ALASKAN BIRD SKETCHES OF OLAUS MURIE, with excerpts from his field notes ed. by Margaret E. Murie (review)

Reviews 221 THE ALASKAN BIRD SKETCHES OF OLAUS MUR1E, with excerpts from his field notes. Compiled and edited by Margaret E. Murie. (Anchor­ age: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, 1979. 64 pages, $11.95.) The legacy of Olaus Murie is surely one of the most enriching any heirs could enjoy, and all of us are his beneficiaries. He is one of those who has given us the land and the wildlife on it. The reminders of this are all around us, both obvious and subtle. They are perhaps most obvious in the vigor of the wilderness movement he helped establish, but they are equally important, though more difficult to discern, in the game and range manage­ ment policies of every western state. Driving through Jackson Hole in the winter, or looking at another picture of the elk herd there, one remembers Olaus Murie with gratitude for saving those animals from extinction. Impatiently trying to arrange a charter flight to a remote village in Alaska, one recalls a fabled dog sled expedition Olaus undertook with his brother Adolph in 1922. With seven dogs they toured from Nenana, south of Fair­ banks, west to Tanana, north to the Brooks Range, east almost to the Canadian border, and then back to Fairbanks. All this through winter darkness with no marked trails and temperatures averaging minus 32°, with lows to minus 68°. A further reminder of the legacy is an occasional reprint­ ing of his books, or one of his wife Mardy’s, or one by his brother, Adolph. Now there is another reminder, a new and graceful publication of field notes and bird sketches made in the Aleutian Islands between 1921 and 1956. This handsome edition contains an introduction by Olaus’wife, Mardy, and lovely color plates of watercolors and sketches of forty birds native to the islands. This is no field guide limited to description, specification as to size, feeding habits and range. It could serve as a useful supplement to such a guide, but this book is much more. Though less comprehensive, it is far richer in feeling and reflection. As is proper, in the introduction and organization of the book, Mardy takes pains to pay proper due to science, a matter in which Olaus was always scrupulous. The sketches show a keen eye for detail and the notes reveal a man of acute observation and thoughtful reflection. The resulting vision is well grounded in the immediate and particular, yet concerned with the life and future of the whole world. The words of Olaus in an introduction to a book by his brother are equally true of his own work: Our civilization is now going through a severe strain. We are trying to find our way . . . and to do so, it behooves us to get serenity in order to think and get to fundamentals for a clearer view into the future. I believe such writing as this gives a view of truth combined with avenues of natural beauty, as a help toward a richer life. Serenity and the clear view combine in this new book to help the reader toward a richer life. GARY HOLTHAUS, Anchorage, Alaska ...