Friday, July 18, 2014

Quote of the Day (Edwin Way Teale, on Summer in Texas, 50 Years Ago)



“Many times, as we rode across the open prairies, we saw birds perching on wire fences at the exact spots where the shadows of posts cut across them. Later, in northern Texas, a government naturalist told us of coming across a line of fenceposts with a jack rabbit stretched out in the shade of each post. They all pointed outward with their backs against the upright wood, ready for an instant getaway if danger appeared. As the position of the sun slowly altered in the sky, swinging the post shadows over the ground, the animals kept shifting their places so they remained extended exactly within the narrow band of the outstretched shade.” —Naturalist Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), Journey into Summer: A Naturalist's Record of a 19,000 Mile Journey through the North American Summer (1960)

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