The Birds of Tanglewood

KARLE WILSON BAKER, the third person to be named a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters, was the best-known and most frequently anthologized poet from Texas in her time. CHARLOTTE BAKER MONTGOMERY became a celebrated author and illustrator of books for children. She still lives in Nacogdoches. For more about the author of this charming volume, see Texas Woman of Letters, Karle Wilson Baker, a biography written by SARAH RAGLAND JACKSON and published by Texas A&M University Press.

In the intimate language of one who watched birds daily, Karle Wilson Baker brought readers face to face with the wonders of the East Texas woods in the 1930s. She wrote about tiny warblers, industrious chickadees, and purple finches; the aery trills and tantalizing color flashes of the hummingbirds; the bell tones of the woodthrush; the daily visits and rare drop-ins of the prolific bird life of the region. In a daily diary she kept throughout her life, Baker recorded her observations of the many birds that lived in the heavily wooded setting of her Nacogdoches home, called Tanglewood. When her family moved from the house, she collected her essays on bird life into this volume, illustrated by her daughter Charlotte and published in 1930. Her little classic speaks with the voice of her times to readers today who enjoy their avian companions. For more about the author of this charming volume, see Texas Woman of Letters, Karle Wilson Baker, a biography written by Sarah Ragland Jackson and published by Texas A&M University Press.