This book is photographs of birds native to the Southeastern United States. Many are Floridian. There a quite a few color photographs and some black and white. The text is by Alexander Sprunt. The dedication to Ann is to my grandmother, Anna Grimes.

Samual Andrew Grimes spent his life photographing birds and recording bird songs. He was particularly interested in mockingbirds. He traveled the world to record songs from different mockingbirds. He was an environmentalist and a conservationist. He was friends with Roger Tory Peterson and Ansel Adams. His photographs were used in many nature guides and some are still in the Smithsonian's collections.

He was born May 5th, 1906 and died Novermber 3, 1996. In 1984, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of NOrth Florida. This meant a great deal to him as he was not able to go past the ninth grade. He had to quit school and go to work when his father died. Education was extremely important to him and he urged all of the family to become educated by reading if not by getting a higher education. His home was filled with books, mostly non-fiction and he read several hours every evening educating himself. We grandchildren grew up looking at his nature and art books. He was a remarkable man who took remarkable photographs.

His book, An Album of Southern Birds is beautiful. If you can find a copy, I urge you to have a look.

--Ann Morris
S.A. Grimes's first granddaughter