Identification guidebooks put information about plant and animal species in the palm of our hands. This identification guide, however, is quite unique. Instead of a book, this field guide is a box. Local ornithologist Benjamin T. Gault created this portable guide to help him with his fieldwork. Gault studied birds year-round and took detailed notes about the habitat in which he found different species. In order to identify trees in the winter, Gault needed a tree identification guide that did not rely on leaf characteristics. Each slat provides a reference for an Illinois tree species, with a photograph on one side and a wood sample on the other. Gault recorded where and when he took each photograph and each tree sample.