Book excerpt: This book is Williams' culmination of over 40 years spent in the field, spending upwards of 200 days each year photographing, hunting, or running dogs on the Western prairies. In it, he seeks to understand everything about the birds and their environment, covering in detail the gray (Hungarian) partridge, sharp-tailed grouse, sage grouse, and prairie chicken. Williams discusses their habits throughout the year, their habitat, mating rituals, identification, what they eat and why, and --most importantly--how to look over a vast section of prairie and identify the habitat within the habitat to locate birds.