Archetypal wild man Edward Abbey and proper, dedicated Wallace Stegner left their footprints all over the western landscape.
The author writes in the preface that those who immediately follow us will pay still more deary for past misuse of natural resources, which belongs to them in common with ourselves. The thought that a boy's book on conservation had possibilities for usefulness came trough the conviction that American boys are even more deeply concerned with what is being done with the great natural resources than those Americans who are boys no longer.
Arkansas is remarkable for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and many interesting problems of distribution are presented as a result of its topography and geological position.
The principal method used by the Biological Survey in investigating the food habits of birds is an examination of the contents of stomachs, the material for which is obtained from all parts of the United States. In case of each species the separate data accumulated by examining as many stomachs as possible are tabulated and show the food of the bird in question to consist of various proportions of certain elements.
The native sparrows are the most abundant and widely distributed of the small birds inhabiting the rural districts of the United States. Wherever there are farms these characteristic little birds may be found nesting in orchard, berry patch, vineyard, or hedgerow, enlivening the shrubbery from dooryard to outlying field with their songs, or in winter rising from the ground and fluttering from bush to bush before one who invades their haunts.
This report is a contribution by the Friends of Our Native Landscape. Each survey represents on the part of its author a feeling of insight and intimacy towards the area described. According to the Foreword the report is a work of love and must be accepted as such.
The Roosevelt Wild Life Annals contain technical papers that would have been of interest to professional naturalists, particularly zoologists and botanists.
According to Roosevelt this volume is meant for the lover of the wild, free, lonely life of the wilderness, and of hardy pastimes known to sojourners therein.
This book traces the history of the United States Bureau of Biological Survey and discusses the role of its scientists in the United States.
