Swimming Chickens: And Other Half-Breasted Accounts of the Animal World

McEnroe, syndicated columnist with the Hartford Courant, offers a mixed bag of humor ranging from genuine rib-ticklers to the merely silly. He reveals new facets of love-hate relationships between couples and their pets; chronicles his victimization by bugs and other forms of backyard wildlife. McEnroe also pokes fun at the scientific establishment with zany scenarios involving research animals: in a piece on dinosaurs, one character wants to regroup them into a new class, Livewirae. There is a story about the lovelorn moose in Shrewsbury, Vt.; one about peacocks and dogs auditioning for modern dance and opera (""no pooch in Puccini''); and a relatively serious account of a visit to a llama farm in Maine. All this is effective when taken in small doses; McEnroe is at best a remote heir of S. J. Perelman. (August 7)