Lawrence Kilham

Lawrence Kilham (August 10, 1910 – September 21, 2000) was an American physician, distinguished virologist, medical school professor, amateur ornithologist, and nature writer. He was elected in 1974 a fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union and was awarded in 1989 the John Burroughs Medal for his 1988 book On Watching Birds.

Quotes

• The huge, forward-projecting casque of the male is his chief sexual characteristic and white skin aournd the eye is a peculiarity of the female. Many African hornbills have brightly colored patches of skin and wattles about the head and neck.
  • Breeding and Other Habits of Casqued Hornbills: (Bycanistes Subcyljndricus). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Volume 131, Issue 9. Smithsonian Institution. November 8, 1956. p. 42.  (45 pages; pdf at repository.si.edu)

• ... Pileateds in the north are as wary as Ruffed Grouse. 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 pines and hemlocks, digging into the heartrot where carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) have their galleries.
  • Life History Studies of Woodpeckers of Eastern North America. Issue 20 of Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. 1983. p. 82.  (240 pages)

On Watching Birds (1988)

• When I began studying birds at age fourteen, I was fortunate in having Frank M. Chapman's Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America and Edward Howe Forbush's Birds of Massachusetts and other New England States, the three volumes of which were then just coming out. I remember carrying Chapman's 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 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! 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 one's own than several hundred following a leader. Learning on one's own is especially important if you want to make discoveries. ... Watching birds and other animals for enjoyment should be something that makes us think.
  • On Watching Birds. Texas A&M University Press. 1997. pp. 3–4. ISBN 9780890967638.  (187 pages; foreword by John K. Terres; illustrations by Joan Waltermire; 1st edition in 1988 from Chelsea Green Publishing)

• During my first year at Harvard, in 1928, I became fascinated with the university's Museum of Comparative Zoology. How exciting for a mere freshman to meet and talk to such famous ornithologists as Ludlow Grissom. ... In succeeding years Griscom, aided by Roger Tory Peterson, who was just bringing out his first bird guide, became the great figure who built up the type of birding—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.
  • p. 5

• We walked lonely beaches and sand dunes, and we delighted in sea- and shorebirds, but we made no great lists. Books that I like at the time were books written by observers, people doing the kind of natural history that I wanted to do; books such as Henry Beston's Outermost House and Charles Wendell Townsend'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.
  • p. 6

Quotes about Lawrence Kilham

• Professionally Lawrence Kilham is a microbiologist who teaches at Dartmouth Medical School, but he is widely known for his papers on bird behavior, particularly those dealing with woodpeckers. 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 author's 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.
  • Eloise Fretz Potter, (Spring 1979) "Book Review: Never Enough of Nature by Lawrence Kilham". The Chat (carolinabirdclub.org) 43 (2): 45.

• The chapters of this book present a sampling from his lifetime of behavior watching, the anecdotes 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 bird behavior in depth. He always prefers to be unobtrustive in his watching and never, for example, has banded birds. 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.
  • William E. (Ted) Davis Jr. (1992) . "Book Review: On Watching Birds by Lawrence Kilham". Bird Observer 20 (3): Article 7.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Lawrence Kilham on Wikipedia