A Lifetime Nature Walk

About the Book

This  book  is  a  collection  of  essays  and  anecdotes  about  19  animals,  18  birds,  15 fish,  10  reptiles,  31 insects,  39  plants,  17  trees,  and  6  other  subjects  encountered  in  nature  by  the  author,  mostly  in  the  region  from  West  Virginia  to  Vermont.   Hopefully,  it  lends  personality  to  these  subjects  and  leaves  the  reader  with  a  sense  of  the  changing  view  of  our  natural  world  during  the  20th  century.     It  is  not  encyclopedic,  being  

limited  to  things  the  author  has  had  experience  with.    On  the  other  hand,  it  contains  many  off-beat  details  not  to  be  found  in  other  references.

Among  stone-age  peoples,  one  of  the  important  duties  the  hunter  had  to  fulfill  when  he  returned  home  was  to  tell  the  other  members  of  his  tribe  where  he  had  been,  what  he  had  seen,  and  what  he  had  done.   That  is  what  the  author  attempts  to  do  in  this  book.

 For  instance,  he  tells  of :    Dealings  with  raccoons,  both  tame  and  wild.   How  to  rescue  a  skunk  from  a  storm  drain.   Home-made  animal  traps.   What  constitutes  a  successful  backwoods  fox  hunt.   How  kingfishers  and  sparrow  hawks  mourn  their  dead.  Why  bluebirds  are  scarce.   Why  a  killdeer  will  tease  a  dog.   Where  to  find  bluegills  in  the  Ohio  River  or  smelt  in  the  Niagara  River.   A  box  turtle's  prediction  of  dry  weather  and  rain.   Living  where  copperheads  live.   Playing  with  garter  snakes.   How  to  find  a  bee  tree.   The  very  different  lives  and  habits  of  hornets,  brown  wasps,  and  mud  dauber  wasps.    Sleeping  with  bedbugs.   The  psychological  warfare  of  the  deer  fly.   When  to  look  for  snow  fleas.   How  to  recognize  chamomile  by  its  aroma.   The  scarcity  of  ginseng.   Trouble  with  jack-in-the-pulpit.    Using  jimson  weed  to  kill  flys.   The  forms  and  effects  of  poison  ivy.    Why  black  raspberries  grow  in  smaller  patches  than  red  raspberries.    Making  use  of  elderberries.    How  Indians  used  acorns  as  food.    Growing  black  walnut  trees  from  seed.

There  are  no  pictures  in  this  book.    Those  would  greatly  increase  the  size  and &nbs

About the Author

Andrew Dequasie's day job has been chemical engineering. His previously published works include: THIRSTY - a humorous western novel. THE GREEN FLAME - an autobiographical non-fiction account of a rocket fuel project. THE SPRUCE VALLEY MIRACLE - an earth-bound science fiction novel. THE CROSSROADS TIME - a coming-of-age western novel. A LIFETIME NATURE WALK - a non-fiction book of nature essays