I don't know what to think of this. I started birding when I was about 10
years old. By 14, my parents could always find me sitting in the backyard
after removing my bird feeders trying to coerce birds to my hand after
buying my first bird book (Hand-tamng Wild Birds, 4th ed, Alfred G Martin).

OK, about that same time, I family member who was a collector of antique
items came across a book and gave it to me. And there it has set for more
than 35 years (though it has moved with me from place to place as I have
grown to adulthood - and beyond). Today, I was looking for my Peterson Field
for some gift cards I am designing (a custom line of native wild birds of
the US). But I had been out birding last night on the John Wayne Trail just
outside of Ellensburg, WA and had left the Peterson guide in the pickup.

OK, so I reach up to find another bird book (I have a personal library of
about 200 book from wilderness and hiking to birding, mushrooming, native
plants, etc) and grab the only other bird guide I have on the shelf. It has
a rather long and narrow book with a reddish brown leather like cover and a
gold emobssed emblem of a woodpecker sitting upright on the top of a log.
The title:

"BIRD GUIDE, Land Birds East of the Rockies".

I open the book up to the inside cover and I see the following signature
(Mary E Mason, The Western '07). I don't know who Mary E Mason is, but her
signature is there as well as the publication statement on the next page:

Chas. K. Reed, Worcheter, Mass. 1906

Can anyone tell me about this book? Is there any real history behind it?
After all these years, it suddenly dawned on me (today) that this is a very
cherished item as it has been with me and much to do with my growing up and
eventually becoming a naturalist and ecologist. It was the book I relied
upon for many, many years as a child - the only ones my family had provided
me with. If anyone knows anything about this book, please let me know.
Thanks.

Ken
Ellensburg, WA
mailto:ken at wildlanders.com

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