Bird Studies at Old Cape May

First published by the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club in 1937, "Bird Studies at Old Cape May" is ornithologist Witmer Stone's exhaustive study of the bird life in Cape May County and along the New Jersey coast between 1920 and 1930. 374 species of bird are described: 318 from Cape May County, primarily from the area stretching from the town of Cape May along the shore to Cape May Point, and 56 species from further north along the New Jersey coast. The book opens with several introductions from previous publications, including one written by Roger Tory Peterson for the 1964 edition. The introductions are followed by short chapters describing the bird life in different geographic areas of Cape May County -sea, meadows, islands,woodland, farmland- as well as history of previous bird life at the Cape, descriptions of bird migrations, and summaries of bird occurrences by month. The bulk of the book consists of descriptions of each of the 374 species observed. For each species, there is a physical description, information on the occurrence and history of the bird in this region, and stories of Stone's personal experiences with the species as well as those of other birders of his acquaintance. Some entries are less than a page in length, while others are up to 12 pages, but the average length for each species is a few pages. There are short introductory essays before the sections on ducks, hawks, and shore birds. This is an absolutely fascinating study of the birds of the New Jersey shore. Bird enthusiasts who have been to Cape May will find engaging and still relevant descriptions of birds which continue to be found there. And it is most interesting to learn the history of these species before much of Cape May's wetlands were filled in, along with the histories of some species which are no longer found in the area. Reading "Bird Studies at Old Cape May" 65 years after its original publication, it is in some ways more informative than it was in 1937. It allows us to observe, for even longer than Witmer Stone did, how and why Cape May changed and its bird population along with it. 941 pages is a lot of information to absorb, but I've found it a very pleasant book to pick up now and then and read the entries for a few species at a time. The order of the book is a mystery to me, but there is an index.