I was pleased to read the following article on July 1, 2017, about my birding activities in Travis Country, a 2,000 home subdivision in southwest Austin, Texas.  The article appeared in our local "Travis Country Notes" monthly newspaper.

THE BIRDS OF BIRDVILLE by L. N. GILBERT

Birding is today an avocation, an area of intense interest, and a source of great pleasure too millions of devotees in the United States and around the world.  But this increasing millions of bird lovers only occurred in the most recent decades. One hundred years ago the appreciation of birds for their beauty and evolved specialization was considered a bit strange by the general public, if not peculiar.

So I was very interested to receive a call recently from Nancy Jewell, a Travis Country resident, who offered me a book published in 1923.  This book had been in the library of a birder friend of  Nancy's husband.  THE BIRDS OF BIRDVILLE contains a collection of hand painted bird images, only a few of which are from Birdsville, Pennsylvania, to which we believe it refers. 

As bird books in 1923 were not common, this book is fascinating for its age and because it is in color. Here is a video of each page of this short book and the 48 bird images so that you may enjoy it also.  Thank you Nancy.