When Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr., came to ornithology, it was as yet a barely respectable academic discipline, let alone one of interest to a major segment of the public. He had to chart his own route in order to become a professional ornithologist.In this autobiographical account, Pettingill details the forces in his early life that guided him toward a distinguished career focused on birds. Endeavors apparently very divergent--taking photographs, participating in plays, and getting to know the outdoors--gradually converged with his growing interest in birds. He relished encounters with people who figured prominently in natural history before World War II, notably storyteller and broadcaster Thornton W. Burgess, artist George Miksch Sutton, and his professors at Bowdoin College and Cornell University.By the time Pettingill accepted his first full-time university teaching position, he was already a published author and had given radio and public presentations on birds. His achievements would center on inspiring others about the wonders of bird life. As a teacher and researcher he had both an immediate impact on his own students and a much broader influence through his books, which became standard texts in field ornithology.Greater yet was his role in encouraging amateurs--popularizing bird lore through his magazine columns, illustrated lectures, two dozen films, and hard work in ornithological organizations.Birding has come a long way since the days when ornithologists had to collect their own bird skins and hand-color glass slides for projection, and Pettingill has been a key figure in that progression. Read Less