A lifelong hunter and wild-game gourmet who has traveled the globe on
expeditions with world-class sportsmen, Guy de la Valdéne purchased an
800-acre farm outside Tallahassee and set out to raise and hunt his
favorite game bird, bobwhite quail. But de la Valdéne is also a
naturalist at heart, and as he planted trees and divided fields, he
found that running the farm compelled him to operate as both hunter and
preservationist, predator and protector. De la Valdéne structures his
reflections around a year in the life cycle of the bobwhite quail, from
one generation's birth through mating and the raising of their young.
Along the way, he gets pulled along on some side trips: to a masterpiece
of controlled burning performed by a Vietnam veteran in a helicopter
with 300 gallons of napalm, and to his own adventures when he improvises
some dam-raising to fill his pond. For a Handful of Feathers reconciles
a passion for hunting with a deep sentiment for the wild. Learning early
on that while his work on the farm may awe his friends, he can never
impress nature, de la Valdéne tries, with sensitivity and patience, to
find his, and perhaps society's, place in the natural world. "A classic
that compares well with Turgenev's A Sportsman's Notebook . . . simply
and beautifully written."-The Bloomsbury Review; "For a Handful of
Feathers is an American classic . . . a book as unapologetic as it is
thoughtful about blood sport . . . . the verbal spark and pace of a fine
novel."-Gray's Sporting Journal; "A gem that will appeal not only to
hunters but to all readers who love the land."-Publishers Weekly.
