The Purple Bird and Rainbow Snail is a book about the true spirit of friendship. Purple Bird falls ill, and Rainbow Snail finds a way, despite her odds to help her friend Purple Bird get better. Join Rainbow Snail on her own adventure while she gets help for Purple Bird and discovers how rewarding true friendship can be. The Bible tells us this: aEURoeThis is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved youaEUR (John 15:12).

Why are animals so amazingly colorful? Find out in this kaleidoscopic look at the technicolor world of animals. Meet animals of every color of the rainbow and find out why they are the colors and patterns they are. Discover the reason why some animals are stripy and others are spotty. Why do some creatures deliberately pop out while others strive to blend in? Why are some bright to warn off others while some only pretend to look toxic? Why are some male animals so much more flamboyant than their female counterparts? Why do some babies look so different from the grown-ups in their families? The animal kingdom is explored like never before in this richly detailed natural history book, bursting with life and color. This is a beautifully illustrated first look at the colorful and kaleidoscopic world of animals for young children.

On May 27th, 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart met a flirtatious little starling in a Viennese shop who sang an improvised version of the theme from his Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major. Sensing a kindred spirit in the plucky young bird, Mozart bought him and took him home to be a family pet. For three years, the starling lived with Mozart, influencing his work and serving as his companion, distraction, consolation, and muse. Two centuries later, starlings are reviled by even the most compassionate conservationists. A nonnative, invasive species, they invade sensitive habitats, outcompete local birds for nest sites and food, and decimate crops. A seasoned birder and naturalist, Lyanda Lynn Haupt is well versed in the difficult and often strained relationships these birds have with other species and the environment. But after rescuing a baby starling of her own, Haupt found herself enchanted by the same intelligence and playful spirit that had so charmed her favorite composer. In Mozart's Starling, Haupt explores the unlikely and remarkable bond between one of history's most cherished composers and one of earth's most common birds. The intertwined stories of Mozart's beloved pet and Haupt's own starling provide an unexpected window into human-animal friendships, music, the secret world of starlings, and the nature of creative inspiration. A blend of natural history, biography, and memoir, Mozart's Starling is a tour de force that awakens a surprising new awareness of our place in the world.

How birds produce the brilliant and striking coloration of their feathers and other body parts is the focus of this volume. Hill and McGraw have assembled the world's leading experts in perception, measurement, and control of bird coloration to contribute to this book, which synthesizes more than 1,500 technical papers in this field.

Most people are surprised to learn that about sixty species of birds may be seen in the north-central part of Eastern North America during the winter months. Many of us, if questioned, would affirm that sparrows, crows, and jays are the only winter birds to be found. If some one opens for us the door which leads out into the great bird-world, we may say, as did the writer of the old couplet:

"Nine miles of the Atlantic Ocean intervene between these islands and the nearest point of the coast of New Hampshire; but from this nearest point the coast-line recedes gradually, in dim and dimmer distance, to Cape Ann, in Massachusetts; twenty-one miles away at the southwest, and to Cape Neddock, in Maine, sixteen miles distant in the northeast (in clear weather another cape is faintly distinguishable beyond this), and about one third of the great horizon is filled by this beautiful, undulating line of land, which, under the touch of atmospheric change, is almost as plastic as the clouds, and wears a new aspect with every turn of wind and weather."