GUIDE TO THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGES

Read and rejoice: here is a directory, region by region, of the 380-odd National Wildlife Refuges established since Teddy Roosevelt took Pelican Island under the government's wing in 1903. At Bombay Hook on the Delaware coast you can see wave after wave of Canada Geese ""coming into the marsh at dusk."" ""Elk, bison, and antelopes roam in herds"" at Nebraska's Fort Niobe. And bald eagles by the hundred winter at the Klamath Basin refuges in Oregon and California. The Rileys' exemplary guide pinpoints and expands on the features of each refuge; locates it--on area and individual maps--and tells how to get there; indicates other things to do (beachcombing, canoeing, berrying, sports fishing, photography); and notes the best time to visit, where to stay, and how to obtain further information. Their data has been vetted at the national and local level but their authoritativeness clearly comes from seeing for themselves. On a boat trip through the cypress swamps and bayous of Arkansas' Big Lake Refuge, for instance, ""beavers, muskrats, wood ducks, hooded mergansers, kingfishers, great blue herons, and six species of woodpeckers can be seen""--but a dike road underway will offer ""a better look at deer, oppossums, raccoons, and other mammals."" Thus primed, you needn't be a nature freak to find the prospect inviting.