Back in 2013 when I first opened a copy of Katrina van Grouw’s then newly published “The Unfeathered Bird,” I was astonished by what I beheld. Never before had I seen any artist put such superb artistic detail into not only the physical structure of anatomical illustrations but into the manner in which they were depicted.
A best-selling novelist, highly acclaimed professor of literature, and thrice a nominee for the Nobel Prize, Vladimir Nabokov was also an avid lepidopterist for a time employed by Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology as a part-time research fellow specializing in the curation of the museum’s collection of butterflies.
Ranging from ratites to tanagers Ms. van Grouw’s illustrations and accompanying explanations cut through the usual scientific jargon common to most books about bird anatomy and make the form and function of the bodies of her subjects easily intelligible to any and all who are interested.