Nature Journal

Title Page, Copyright Page

Nature Journal Dr. Gary R. Mullen, Entomology, Auburn University Dr. L. J. Davenport, Botany, Samford University Elberta Gibbs Reid, Birmingham Audubon Society Dr. E. O. Wilson, Zoology, Harvard University (Emeritus) INAUGURAL SPONSORS Birmingham Audubon Society Mary Carolyn Gibbs Boothby Lida Inge Hill Fay Belt Ireland Henry S. Lynn Jr. Medical Management Plus, Inc. Dr. Connie S. and Dr. James A. Pittman Jr. Elberta Gibbs Reid Frances B. and James W. Shepherd Becky H. and William E. Smith Jr. Virginia B. and William M. Spencer III Ann A. and Donald B. Sweeney Jr. Dr. Cameron M. and Judge J. Scott Vowell Alice M. and N. Thomas Williams Harriett Harton Wright Louise A. and John N. Wrinkle Philip Henry Gosse as a young man of twenty-nine, the year of his return to England from Alabama, painted by his brother, William Gosse. (1839, watercolor on ivory, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery—London) ADVISORY PANEL Philip Henry Gosse (1810–1888) was an English naturalist and illustrator who spent eight months of 1838 on the Alabama frontier, teaching planters’ children in Dallas County and studying the native flora and fauna. Years after returning to England, he published the nowclassic Letters from Alabama, (U.S.) Chiefly Relating to Natural History (1859), with twenty-nine important black-and-white illustrations included. He also produced, during his Alabama sojourn, forty-nine remarkable watercolor plates of various plant and animal species, mainly insects. The Gosse Nature Guides are a series of natural history guidebooks prepared by experts on the plants and animals of Alabama and designed for the outdoor enthusiast and ecology layman. Because Alabama is one of the nation’s most biodiverse states, its residents and visitors require accurate, accessible field guides to interpret the wealth of life that thrives within the state’s borders. The Gosse Nature Guides are named to honor Philip Henry Gosse’s early appreciation of Alabama’s natural wealth and to highlight the valuable legacy of his recorded observations. Look for other volumes in the Gosse Nature Guides series at http://uapress.ua.edu. ß The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa ß L. J. Davenport With a Foreword by John C. Hall Nature Journal Copyright © 2010 by L. J. Davenport The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 All rights reserved Printed in China Typeface: Garamond Premiere Pro Designed by Michele Myatt Quinn ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Davenport, Lawrence James. Nature journal / L. J. Davenport; with a foreword by John C. Hall. p. cm. — (Gosse nature guides) ISBN 978-0-8173-5569-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-81738391 -6 (electronic) 1. Natural history — Alabama. I. Title. QH105.A2D38 2010 508.761—dc22 2009035170 Publication supported in part by Samford University Cover: Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias), original waterolor painting (34 x 251/4 inches) by Basil Ede, 1978. Property of the Westervelt Corporation, Tuscaloosa, AL. For W. Mike Howell—mentor, colleague, collaborator, and friend “‘Careful and minute descriptions, accurate measurements, and distinctive names are absolutely indispensable to science . . . but they must not be confounded with science itself.’ . . . A true knowledge of the natural world comes only from getting out into it, from climbing trees and mountains, wading along creeks, along the shore and out into the sea, from crouching hidden in tangled creepers. It comes from ‘protracted acquaintance’ with the animals, the insects, the reptiles, the bats and birds in the place where they live.” —Philip Henry Gosse, as quoted and paraphrased by Ann Thwaite in Glimpses of the Wonderful: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse ...