Twenty elegant essays examine the behavior of various creatures -- from hummingbirds to bumblebees, thatcher ants to wrens, owls to woodrats to wasps -- and the remarkable ways in which they have adapted to their world. The author clearly recognizes that the lives of these species are the threads that weave together the natural world, and he warns that the loss of any one species inevitably diminishes all others -- including our own. Best of all, though, Howard Ensign Evans has never lost his sense of wonder, and these pages are sure to evoke a sense of delight and curiosity in the reader as well.