Animal Stand by Alan W. Vickers

This is a first edition (1991) hardback collectable. In fact it's quite a rare title. It is an Australian bushland adventure with an environmental message. It also has a cleverly coded message for the reader to solve. What is Bossly's message? The animals include is Pira the platypus, Bossly the wombat, Karl the kingfishers and Scaly the frillneck lizard. The animals are battling a developer who wants to destroy their habitat. The full page illustrations are colourful and detailed, it is one of the most stunning Australian picture I have ever seen.

The Holiday Naturalist in New Zealand by R.A.Falla

Forty years on, this book could be considered rather quaint, but in fairness it is a normal book product of the early 70's for this genre. It was derived froma series of talks given by Dr Falls on N.Z.B.C radio. Whilst there are some factual references, it is brimming with sentiment and opinion. I only bought it because I have been to New Zealand three times and I love the bird life there and have been to a lot of the places mentioned in the book like Greymouth, Wellington Heads, Waipoua Forest, and many others. It was only $2 and proved to be an enjoyable read and at times both enlightening and amusing. There are six chapters in all:

Bird Song, Flights and Migration, The Sea Mammals, Along the Tide Lines, Reptiles and Amphibians, Life in Fresh Water, Seasons in the Bush and Conservation.

The most interesting section for me was the one about the frog known as Leiopelma which is considered one of the most ancient frogs in the world.