The Bird Call of the Ri Beni is a story that blends scientific exploration, jungle adventure, and a young man's coming of age into a single narrative. In the fall of 1934, the author, an 18-year-old high school graduate from New Jersey, sailed with his ornithologist father to the jungles of western Bolivia on a bird collecting expedition. "We did not arise until 7:00 a.m.; unusual for us We breakfasted, finished skinning the five birds left over...