“‘Swallows certainly sleep all winter. A number conglobulate together, by flying round and round, and then all in a heap throw themselves under the water and lie in the bed of the river.’

Thus, in the year 1768, Samuel Johnson explained the disappearance of these birds in the fall to his biographer, Boswell. He was expressing—with Johnsonian finality—the prevalent belief of his time. In The Natural History of Selborne, Johnson’s contemporary, Gilbert White, noted that one eminent Swedish naturalist of the period talked ‘as familiarly of swallows going under water in the beginning of September as he would of his poultry going to roost a little before sunset.’ With the passage of time, the absurdity of this idea grew obvious. A better understanding of migration explained the mystifying disappearance of birds in fall and Johnson’s ‘conglobulating’ swallows became recognized as a classic misconception. Through the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, the belief in hibernating birds stood as a symbol of human credulity.

It was against this background that Dr. Edmund C. Jaeger, in the Chuckwalla Mountains of the Colorado Desert, on December 29, 1946, discovered a hibernating bird.”

-from Wandering Through Winter: A Naturalist’s Record of a 20,000-Mile Journey Through the North American Winter by Edwin Way Teale, winner of the 1966 Pulitzer for General Non-Fiction. I’m reading it now and it is just full of little gems like the above, which opens chapter four (“A Desert Wind”). Teale goes on to describe how he, his wife Nellie, a friend, and Dr. Jaeger spent a night in the canyon where Jaeger discovered the hibernating Common Poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii).

Birds go through a daily torpor (a period where their body heat and metabolism drop to conserve energy) that lasts less than 24 hours, but the Common Poorwill is the only bird known to go into torpor for as long as weeks or months.

They are pretty cute little birds, too.

presented here for you, without comment:

• Cosmodolphins: Feminist Cultural Studies of Technology, Animals, and the Sacred
• Empire of Dogs: Canines, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World
• Beyond dominance and affection: Living with rabbits in post-humanist households
• The Platypus and the Mermaid and Other Figments of the Classifying Imagination
• The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats
• The tamed wild: symbolic bears in American culture
• Blue Juice: Euthanasia in Veterinary Medicine
• Frog and cyberfrog are friends: Dissection simulation and animal advocacy
• Blood Intimacies and Biodicy: Keeping Faith with Ticks

nonaraptor:

don’t look in a woman’s bag to see if there’s an unread book in it. how can you tell it’s unread anyway, get your nose out of her bag seriously before you discover that she keeps a mousetrap in there for people like you.

stop looking in her coffee cup, also don’t be so interested in what she’s drinking, whether it’s got milk or non-dairy creamer (which tastes like crap most of the time anyway) in it.

don’t sit down next to her or opposite her unless there are no other free seats available
—the rules are: sit at a table/area that no one else is already at if there is one free. if there isn’t, ask politely if anyone is sitting (here) before you sit down at a table someone else is at. after that, DON’T make conversation if they’re reading. drink your drink, eat your food if applicable, read your own damn book if applicable, don’t be a public nuisance.

don’t ask them if they like the book - either they do which is why they’re reading it, or they have to read it for a class or something and either way they probably don’t want to talk about it.

don’t buy her another drink. she probably doesn’t want it, or at least doesn’t want the social obligation that is seen as customary when someone buys you a drink (and I’m not talking about sex, I’m talking about how you’re meant to be nice to them for buying it, and talk to them or whatever. sometimes people just do not want to be social okay). don’t put her in the position of having to weigh up if she can ignore you or if she has to pay attention to you because you’ll cause a scene if she doesn’t. don’t make her have to choose whether to leave ASAP because you’re going to be a douche, or whether she’ll have to be nice to you because people will think she’s so rude otherwise.

don’t start telling her your feels on books, and don’t ask her about hers. don’t assume she’s lying about her understanding of books. don’t lie to her. don’t try to pretend you know everything.
just leave her the fuck alone.

you have no guarantee that she wants your attention.
you are making it awkward by forcing contact.
stop it.
bugger off.
thanks.

(via cheatthis)

I have a small collection of dog books published pre-1950 and a few picture books related to dogs published pre-1970. I always think about scanning them but I don’t want to break their spines. bleeeeeh.

[cover art for John Harwood’s novel The Seance]

fall is the time for horror stories, because even big skeptic killjoys (like me) sometimes enjoy being scared of ghosts and yetis and shit. ghost stories scare the hell out of me, especially ones with an oppressive atmosphere. I like Susan Hill and Shirley Jackson, but I’m trying to branch out into other writers of horror, because you can only read The Haunting of Hill House so many times before you’re just reading for the lesbian subtext. anyway, this was recommended to me, as someone who likes ghosts and horror novels that aren’t embarassing to take to the checkout desk at the library.

[cover art for Louise Erdrich’s novel Four Souls]

behold, Erdrich, master of the multi-generational interwoven narratives in a fictional universe. Garrison Keillor lies awake at night knowing that he is not Louise Erdrich, and Lake Wobegon is for suckers. I’ve been reading all of Erdrich’s novels since Quinn gave me one as a gift, and her work ranges from “good” to “holy shit”. Four Souls focuses on Fleur, one of the recurring characters I’ve been interested in for a while. in it, Fleur leaves the reservation to find and ruin the man who cheated her family out of their home. I’ve already read Love Medicine and Tracks (where this backstory first comes up), so I’m really happy that there’s an entire novel focusing on Fleur.

I’m actually re-reading this, it’s one of my favorite novels. I have this thing for novels about beautiful, smart young people at exclusive schools where bad things happen (in this case, murders). it’s like a perfect combination of escapism and schadenfreude dressed up in literary fiction. since I’m waiting for some books to come in through the interlibrary loan, I’m reading this again.

another reread, and same as above, but instead of muderous Classics students, it’s homoerotic girls’ school horror. way better than it sounds, I promise.