The term “feathery tribe” in the title is much too cute for what is principally a work aiming at scholarship. The author states in the preface that the “book is about what it meant to be a professional studying birds in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, how a professional class emerged, what it looked like, what roles amateurs played, and how these changes led to the science of ornithology as we practice it today” (p. ix–x). All of these are touched upon at various levels. Lewis’s chronicle includes a brief history of the Smithsonian Institution, the early growth and importance of its bird collection, the development of professional ornithology, and the influence of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU), with Robert Ridgway as the principal person of the story. According to the author, Ridgway was a world-renowned ornithologist who “is largely forgotten today.” Forgotten!? Countless birders and ornithologists do remember Ridgway today.