The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 90, July 1986 - April, 1987 Page: 101
492 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
have those hands in my memory to supply evidence of the obligations
he met, the sweat he gave, the honest deed performed" (p. 202).
Too many of the essays in part two, "Other Echoes," are dated. "Body
Politics," for example, deals with Washington's responses to the Eliza-
beth Ray-Wayne Hays scandal, names most of us have gladly forgotten.
Through both parts slouches the Larry King persona: a heavy,
bearded Texan who has never lost his wit, acute eye for detail, and keen
ear for down-home language, traits that produce work worthy of being
collected.
Texas A&M University MARK BUSBY
Bones for Barnum Brown: Adventures of a Dinosaur Hunter. By Roland T.
Bird. Edited by V. Theodore Schreiber. (Fort Worth, Tex.: Texas
Christian University Press, 1985. Pp. viii+225. Foreword, intro-
duction, illustrations, maps, tables, epilogue, notes, index. $29.95,
cloth; $14.95 paper.)
Roland T. Bird was a man who was fascinated with dinosaurs. He
spent a number of years collecting them for the American Museum of
Natural History in New York under the direction of Barnum Brown.
This book, Bird's firsthand account of life in the field, reveals the hard
physical work and often uncomfortable living conditions involved in
excavating the bones and tracks of dinosaurs. A hair-raising account of
collecting dinosaur tracks and fossil palm leaves from an abandoned coal
mine in Colorado indicates that danger is sometimes part of the job.
Although Bird's name usually does not appear on scientific reports,
his contributions to the scientific study of dinosaurs are real and lasting.
Without his persistent work in the field and careful notes and sketches,
much of the material and data that others have used would not be avail-
able. Bird is probably best known for his work on the dinosaur track-
ways on the Paluxy River near Glen Rose, Texas, and those near Ban-
dera, Texas. His careful observation and mapping of these trackways
led him to new interpretations of the locomotor function and behavior
of these huge animals. There are exhibits of these trackways in the
American Museum of Natural History, New York, the U.S. National
Museum, Washington, D.C., and the Texas Memorial Museum, Austin.
The book has a good introduction to the history of the study of dino-
saurs, and additional notes on each chapter have been provided by
James Farlow. The illustrations, mostly photographs, are generally ex-
cellent and complement the text.University of Texas at Austin
ERNEST L. LUNDELIUS, JR.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 90, July 1986 - April, 1987, periodical, 1986/1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117152/m1/127/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.