The Curse Of The Labrador Duck [Hardcover]

This work is a first person account of a rather obsessive ornithologist in his quest to locate, observe and study every Labrador Duck in existence. At this point the reader should know that this particular species of duck has been extinct for around 130 to 140 years now so we are talking stuffed ducks in various museums and private collections. This search took several years to complete and the author takes us with him on his journeys around the world.

You cannot help but compare Glen Chilton's style of write to that of Bill Bryson. Both authors have a rather low keyed and quirky outlook on life and their writing reflects that fact. Chilton has used this search for this dead duck to hang a very mellow travel book on and as a premise to observe the human condition as he travels from place to place.

I personally enjoyed this read but then it must be noted that I am rather obsessive in nature myself, am an avid birder and have been for years, and I enjoy reading most of Bill Bryson's work. I also enjoy travel and enjoy musty museums so this work met my needs perfectly.

I did get quite a number of laughs out of reading this work as the author's self depreciating wry sense of humor fit me like a glove and I understood perfectly where he was coming from as I read his words. The entire book is written in a light, conversational manner and is simply a fun read. I look forward to reading any future work by this author.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Dr. Chilton is somebody to enjoy a coffee or a gin and tonic with, anywhere between Manitoba and New South Wales. After all, he did as much for a dead duck. He is a bit better than a tolerable writer, and what he has done is worth writing about. Not quite so dyed in the feather as are birders, he is nevertheless surpassingly obsessive. He is just odd duck enough for this book to attract birders and a larger audience of eccentric readers who like the small and close. Like Joe Roth, he captures much bigger things of history and sociology by tracing his steps, looking for the extinct Labrador Duck. This is no who-done-it book as other readers have crabbed. There is no punch line, no fabulous resolution. He hooked me when he explained the allusive obvious, Labrador is la bra d'or, a golden arm laying in a cold sea. He convinced me to visit Blanc Sablon before its last 1235 inhabitants leave on foot or by box; and certainly before the late summer black fly mating.

Dr. Chilton builds no argument, makes no grand claim. No dying duck in a thunderstorm plea from him either. He hooked me when he explained the elusive obvious. Labrador, when you look at its map, is a bra d'or, a golden arm lying on a cold sea. The Gulf of St. Lawrence is barely warmed by the last of the Gulf Stream. He is scientist enough to show you both the clever and the careful. His traveller enough to have quickly convinced me to visit Blanc Sablon before its dwindling 1235 people have left by foot or by casket. I know enough to go before the mating season of the black fly after mid-summer. Audobon & Son went to Blanc Sablon in a shoot-em-up and paint-em-down. He was not the first to draw or paint the Labrador Duck. As usual, the annoying Germans got a forty-four year jump on them in the person of Johan Friedrich (yes, another one) Gmelin.

We follow Dr, Chilton from Scotland in search of an old crank, as only an eighty-two year old, egg-collecting Scott can be. To Paris and even to St. Petersburg. I wonder how people move such a duck so far from its original limits. Who, then, is the stranger creature?

Glen Chilton is a decent storyteller, and his story of his quest to see every Labrador Duck is amusing, but somewhat lost me about halfway through. Both his writing and storytelling are charming, but at some point, I really wanted to understand what he learned from examining each stuffed Labrador Duck. Did it increase his understanding as to why the species became extinct? Did it give us insight into how to stop this from occurring with other species? Did he collect DNA so he could clone one of these wonders?

Alas, no. This is a man on a seemingly endless quest to look and measure dead ducks. And while the story is somewhat amusing, at some point it reads like a Labrador Duck travelogue. I would've liked more ducks and less travel.

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