A Natural History of Tinmouth, Vermont George LeBoutillier  1983

Don’t go looking for this book in your local bookstore and you’re probably not about to shell out $32.95 to Amazon for the one copy they’re offering.  This slim volume was self-published by a retired teacher who moved to Vermont and spent his time outdoors observing nature and noting those observations in his journals.  Not trained in the natural sciences, he brought an avid curiosity and a willingness to look and learn to his daily walks around this Vermont town with its streams, ponds, hills, and valleys using the land as a ‘kind of laboratory where we can study nature in a situation as undisturbed as possible.”  The writing isn’t brilliant but the observations coupled with the science that he has researched make for a good read, and his drawings of birds, mammals,  flowers, insects etc are endearing.  Much of the pleasure of reading this book in brief snatches over many months was identifying with his experiences in our own Vermont woods.  Disappointingly, the only cover I could find was on Amazon, and it’s a pale version of the original which featured my nemesis, a red squirrel, leaping across the front of the book, probably headed for my bird feeder or cellar.