The books in this section are usually hardcover and in decent condition, though we'll sometimes offer hard-to-find books in lesser condition at a reduced price. Though we often put images of the book with their original dust jackets, the copies here won't always (or even often) have them. If that is important to you, please call ahead or say so in the order comments!
WILD FOLK IN THE DESERT
Much of western North America is desert-dry country where rain may not fall for months and summer days become very hot. Scenery ranges from plains and alkaline flats to canyons, badlands and towering cliffs.
Plants and animals of the desert cannot live like those of moist regions. Many plants are dry and brittle; others store water in juicy stalks that are covered with spines. A few animals make long journeys to get water, but others eat the pulpy plants. Several kinds make water from seeds and other dry foods. Many save water by hiding in burrows during the day, when the desert is driest and hottest. Still others take to their burrows during the summer and do not come out again until autumn arrives.
This book describes five great deserts that extend from Mexico to Oregon, and from California to Wyoming and Texas. It also tells the story of things that inhabit these various deserts and dry lands, or semi-deserts, near them. All these plants and animals are familiar to human desert-dwellers, and many are known to people who cross the desert on summer trips or visit it for winter vacations. Some appear in museum exhibits which bring the desert to people who stay in distant cities.
As in other books of this series, chapters combine narratives of desert life with descriptions and explanations. Both show us how plants and animals prosper under conditions which, to human beings, seem very difficult. With the text go sixty-three illustrations containing ninety individual drawings. These show how plants and animals live, and at the same time enable human visitors to the desert to recognize the things they see.
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