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BOOK REVIEWS 
LIFE AND DEATH OF A SALT MARSH. By John and Mildred Teal. 
50 drawings, charts and end-paper maps by Richard G. Fish. 
270 pages. Little, Brown and Company (hard cover). 
1969 Audubon/Ballantine (paperback). 1970 $1.25. 
One of set of 4 books, $4.50, if ordered from Service Department, 
National Audubon Society, 1130 Fifth Ave., New York 10028. 
This reviewer ashamedly admits that he never had much interest in 
marshes, although in long ago memory was a spectacular trip via inter-city 
bus through a New Jersey salt marsh. His attitude no doubt has not been 
different than that of the great majority who associate marshes mainly with 
noxious insects and nauseating odors. 
This brilliant book by the husband-and-wife Teals was, therefore, to use 
an inadequate term, an “eye opener.” It is highly recommended to every 
conservationist, whether knowledgeable or just as ignorant as we were. 
From the introduction, “this book is about the marshes of the East 
Coast of North America: how they were formed; why they continue to 
exist; the interplay of plants and animals; and the effect of that influential 
animal, man.” 
Some chapters in the “Ecology of Salt Marshes” section will be skipped 
by readers not greatly interested in geography, geology or biology. No 
conservationist though should skip the chapters under “Marsh Conserva- 
tion.” There he will learn the extent of “human destruction of marshes,” 
the number, size and location of those that remain, by state from Maine, 
which has one, to Florida with 35, of which most are mangrove swamps. 
This clearly indicates the advance of industry and the opression of 
population. 
The value of marshes, from economic, educational, recreational and 
aesthetic viewpoints is inestimable. Not only are they resting, feeding and 
in some cases nesting grounds for shorebirds, migratory waterfowl and 
even “song birds,” as is generally known, but homes, breeding grounds 
and food reserves for many fish and other aquatic denizens of both sea 
and river varieties. In addition, there are furnished habitats for myriad 
mollusks, including oysters and clams, for crustaceans such as lobsters 
and shrimp—all valuable in commerce and for sport—plus the nearly 
priceless reptile, the diamond-backed terrapin, and during phases of their 
life-cycle a variety of amphibians, notably frogs for gourmets. Add to 
all this: the nurture of a host of mammals necessary to the ecology if not 
to the economy, muskrats and raccoons to name but two. 
The first section of “Life and Death” which gives the book its title 
and of which a condensed version has appeared in Audubon Magazine, is 
a dramatic story of a specific marsh told under chapter headings: “Birth,” 
“Invasion,” “Civilization” and “Death.” The marsh chosen is a typical 
one—whether an actual or a fictitious one does not matter—owned and 
lived on by six generations of a family to which the authors have given 
the name “Deacon” over a period that spanned parts of three centuries. 
Actually in the chapter, “Birth,” the history of this marsh goes back 
to its formation in glacial times. “Invasion” tells of its use, but not abuse, 
by Indians. ‘“Civilizaton” relates the sorry story of market hunting of 
shorebirds; of destruction of the terrain by machines to harvest hay; of 
