“A lyrical celebration . . . This engaging portrait of the Catskill wilderness will appeal to nature enthusiasts of all stripes.” —Library Journal (starred review) A red fox stands poised at the edge of a woodchuck den, his ears perked for danger as two pudgy fox cubs frolic nearby. A mother black bear and her cubs hibernate beneath a felled tree. A barred owl snags a hapless cottontail from a meadow with its precise talons. In The Quarry Fox and Other Tales of the Wild Catskills, Leslie T. Sharpe trains her keen eye and narrative gifts on these and other New York wildlife through her tales of close observations as a naturalist living in the Great Western Catskills. The Quarry Fox is the first in-depth study of Catskill wildlife since John Burroughs invented the genre of nature writing, in which Sharpe weaves her experiences of the seasons, plants, and creatures with the natural history of each organism, revealing their sensitivity to and resilience against the splendor and cruelty of Nature. Sharpe's frank, scientific observations join with her deeply felt connection to these creatures to instill an appreciation of the undaunted and variegated beauty of the Catskills and camaraderie with its animals. From contemplating the importance of milkweed for monarchs to lay their eggs to reveling in the first steps of a wobbly fawn, The Quarry Fox is a celebration of the natural world and our place in it. “A poignant and modern reminder of untamed creatures so close to home.” —The New York Times

In this engaging introduction to the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), J. David Henry recounts his years of field research on this flame-colored predator. With its catlike whiskers, teeth, and paws, as well as vertical-slit pupils, the North American red fox not only resembles but often behaves like a feline, especially when hunting. Probing the reasons for these similarities, Henry reveals the behavior and ecology of a species that thrives from the edge of suburbia to the cold northern tundra.

New Premium Paperback - Bookstore Quality Edition!THERE has been so much criticism lately 0f the methods of the writers of "animal stories," and more particularly of their "pernicious" habit of investing their four-footed heroes and heroines with human. if not superhuman attributes that the appearance of this new volume by Mr. C. G. D. Roberts aroused in us a lively curiosity. Mr. Roberts is an old offender in the eyes of the naturalists, and the question immediately rose--had lie mended his ways in consequence of the scathing rebukes administered by those who believe that animals are not proper subjects for idealization? Secretly, it must be confessed, we hoped he had not, for we are still old-fashioned enough to cherish fairytales and desire "animal stories" of the imaginative variety. For a moment we feared that the shafts of the critics had struck home. "The incidents in the career of this particular fox," says Mr. Roberts.

Presents a biography of the naturalist and writer, describing how his work stems from his loveless childhood with a mentally ill mother and traveling salesman father and his determination to succeed.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.