Nobody has counted every bird, of course, but scientists believe there are about a hundred billion of them in the world. In that tremendous feathered crowd there is an amazing assortment—the ostrich that may weigh three hundred pounds and the tiny hummingbird that weighs a good deal less than the letter on which you stick a three-cent stamp; the arctic tern that flies over 20,000 miles every year and the penguin that cannot fly at all; the oriole that hangs its dainty purse-shaped nest from slender twigs and the cliff swallow that plasters clay against a rocky wall to make its nest. Yet different as they may seem, these birds have much in common as they build their nests, raise their young and search for food.

In All About Birds, Robert S. Lemmon has given a remarkable overall story of birds to show their similarities and differences, their amazing habits and believe-it-or-not achievements. Throughout the book he tells of specific birds—how to identify them as a scientist, and how to make friends with them as a neighbor.

Exquisite illustrations by Fritz Kredel will help the beginning scientist know and love the wonderful world of birds.

From the dust jacket