Birds and Man Birds and Man

THIS EDITION IS LIMITED TO 7$O COPIES FOR SALE IN ENGLAND, IOO FOR SALE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND 35 PRESENTATION COPIES THE COLLECTED WORKS 0/ W. H. HUDSON IN TWENTY-FOUR VOLUMES BIRDS AND MAN BIRDS AND MAN BY W. H. HUDSON MCMXXIII LONDON y TORONTO J. M. DENT & SONS LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. AII rtghls reserved PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Birds at their Best ....... i Unpleasant impression produced by stuffed birds — The Booth Collection at Brighton—The Dartford warbler seen at its best—A painful contrast—Use and abuse of museum collections—A tale of the Age of Fools—Sun- light in a sack—Kingfisher in a glass case—Seeing every bird at its best—Emotional impressions the only permanent ones—A picture of long-tailed tits among catkins:—The faculty of recalling sounds: its varying degrees—Memories of bird-sounds—The author’s case —Relative durability of sight- and sound-impressions —The author’s experience analysed—Vocal characteristics which chiefly impress—The charm of birds: a saying of Sir Edward Grey’s elucidated—The delight and consolation of remembered beauty. CHAPTER II Birds and Man ........ 32 Man from the bird’s point of view—The blackbird and the strawberries—Birds* relations with beasts—Seven daws and a cow — A daw’s attentions to a hind — Nesting birds: their behaviour to intruders analysed—Anecdote of a sheep and a lapwing—Partridges at a rabbit-fight —Herbert Spencer on animal sociability: his ignorance of the cow’s mind—The robin’s attitude towards man —Indifference of swifts and the swallow tribe to man— Contrasted behaviour of a hen pheasant—A hostile demonstration by gold-crests—Another by swallows— The mystery explained. CHAPTER III Daws in the West Country ..... 50 Abundance of daws in Somerset—Their taste in architecture —Wells Cathedral—A city of birds—Bishop’s Jacks vii viii CONTENTS and Ebor Jacks— Nest-building on the cathedral— Stick-gathering: the daw’s deficient judgment — A curíous scene—The charm of Bath—Birds in a back garden — Letting sleeping cats lie — Blue tits and a cocoa-nut — Starlings at Bath — The Abbey daws — Ruskin as a picture-maker—His reference to daws’ voices criticised—An example for a cúrate—Cowper’s natural history—His delight in the sounds of nature —The donkey’s bray. CHAPTER IV Early Spring in Savernake Forest .... 67 The spring-feeling—Characteristics of Savernake—Remote- ness and solitude—The sound of the wind—Fallen beech-leaves—The wood-pigeon’s cooing and its song —Human quality of its voice—The original pigeon- language—Voice of the rock-dove—A crow-sanctuary —Unseen contests between daw and wood-owl — A great flock of daws—Spring assemblies of jays—The jays and the naturalists—Vocal powers of the jay—Its summoning-cry — Its flight in spring — Its arboreal antics—The British Bird of Paradise. CHAPTER V A Wood Wren at Wells ...... 85 The birds’ headquarters at Wells—Arrival of the wood wren —The best time to observe it—An inquisitive bird— Its appearance during flight—Its song characterised and compared with others—The Lynton lady and the wood wren — White’s description of its song — John Burroughs and the willow wren — Lack of references to the wood wren in literature — Little-known songs often attributed to familiar species—An amusing in- stance of this—The secret of the wood wren’s charm. CHAPTER VI The Secret of the Willow Wren .... 98 Universality of the willow wren—Its unregarded charm— A thrush and a willow wren in Kensington Gardens CONTENTS ix PAGE —The willow wren’s song: the secret of its charm to be found in its human quality—Confirmation from Gilbert White and Mr. Warde Fowler—Human quality in other bird-voices—Blackbird—Swallow—Blackcap —Linnet—Tree-pipit—The nightingale and Carlotta Patti — Non-passerine species: association of their voices with ideas of terror — Impressions of bird- voices correlated with the emotions they seem to express—Herbert Spencer and the “ secondary aesthetic element.” CHAPTER VII Secret of the Charm of Flowers iii Our aesthetic feelings towards nature coloured by human likenesses—Human associations of flower-colouring— Expression defined—Superior attraction of blue flowers to a blue-eyed race—Ñames of flowers suggested by their human associations—A mystery about nothing —Reds in flowers: a scale of preferences—The gamut of flesh-tints—The colour of blood—Lack of human interest in puré white and yellow flowers—Charm of rose-tinted white flowers—Expression in yellow flowers —A diatribe against gardens—An objection raised and answered—A supplement in the key of blue. CHAPTER VIII Ravens in Somerset.............................................................. 132 A brother naturalista attitude towards large birds—Its explanation—Watching a pair of ravens—A wonder- ful aerial feat—Dwindling raven population—Reluc- tance to kill ravens—King Arthur—Fate of the three young men of Broadway—A sublime conflict between a raven and a falcon—A plea for the raven’s preserva- tion—A doctor’s story. CHAPTER IX OWLS IN A VlLLAGE ....... I43 An owl - haunted village — The brown owl not always a hermit — A derelict country-side — The village of CONTENTS Saintbury—Its daylong silence—Children signalling in owl-language—The human species deficient in natural calis of its own — The wood-owl’s music described — Its effect on the human listener—Story of a death- waming—History of a pet wood-owl. CHAPTER X The Strange and Beautiful Sheldrake . 155 The source of the Axe—Wookey Hole—Brean Down—A concert of linnet music—The view from Brean Down —The flattest district in England—The sheldrake de scribed—Its feeding habits—Its singular behaviour in the breeding season—Coaxing a wife to do her duty. CHAPTER XI Geese: an Appreciation and a Memory . 165 The gander at the gate—Lofty spirit of the goose—Its personal qualities obscured by culinary associations— The best of watch-dogs—Its beauty—Magellanic geese in a wild state—Their endless confabulations in the migratory season—Their exquisite behaviour in cap- tivity described by an oíd gentleman—Far away and long ago: a great flock of domestic geese—The goose as a vocalist—The great flock dispersed—The migra tory instinct—Anecdote of a crippled bird and its mate —An adventure with a goose in the snow. CHAPTER XII The Dartford Warbler . .184 John Burroughs’ hunt for the nightingale — A parallel quest—Former distribution of the Dartford warbler — The iniquitous activities of Smithers — Interview with an aged vicar—A traveller in the rare-bird trade —The peculiar charm of the furze wren—A secret colony — Difflculty of protecting rare birds against * wealthy collectors — Hopes for the future — Some suggestions. CONTENTS xi CHAPTER XIII PAGE Vbrt-Vbrt; or Parrot Gossip............................................ 206 The wrong place for a parrot—Lady Thompson’s parrot— Its first experience of snow—The fear of flying feathers —The gaucho way of catching partridges—A quota- tion from Herodotus—A remarkable story of a talking parrot—A parrot who had forgotten her Spanish— Longevity of parrots—Their faculty of imitating human speech — Individual genius in birds — Lord Peter- borough's theft of a canary — The legend of Tupi and Guaraní. CHAPTER XIV SOMETHING PRETTY IN A GLASS CASE .... 222 Stuffed birds once more—No such thing as a dead bird— A personal experience with stuffed animáis — Bad weather at the Land’s End — A dream of a beech wood — A remarkable post-mortem conversation between a squirrel and a woodpecker—A dream of liell. CHAPTER XV Selborne ......... 234 First impressions of places—The disheartening effect of railway stations—A first approach to Selborne—Yellow- hammer in the rain—Faber’s poem on the yellowham- mer — Henley’s unwritten poem on the cirl bunting —First sight of Selborne—The swifts—The unseen presence of Gilbert White—An imaginary conversation with him—Hibernating swallows—Changes in the bird population—The modern attitude towards nature; a defence and a reply—The charm of the Letters. Index . 251 BIRDS AND MAN CHAPTER I BIRDS AT THEIR BEST By Way of Introduction Unpleasant impression produced by stuffed birds—The Booth Collection at Brighton—The Dartford warbler seen at its best—A painful contrast—Use and abuse of museum collections—A tale of the Age of Fools—Sunlight in a sack— Kingfisher in a glass case—Seeing every bird at its best —Emotional impressions the only permanent ones—A pie- ture of long-tailed tits among catkins—The faculty of recalling sounds: its varying degrees—Memories of bird- sounds—The author’s case—Relative durability of sight- and sound-impressions—The author’s experience analysed —Vocal characteristics which chiefly impress—The charm of birds: a saying of Sir Edward Gray’s elucidated—The delight and consolation of remembered beauty. EARS ago, in a chapter concerning eyes in a book of Patagonian memories, I spoke of Ythe unpleasant sensations produced in me by the sight of stuffed birds. Not bird skins in the drawers of a cabinet, it will be understood, these being indispensable to the ornithologist, and very useful to the larger class of persons who without being ornithologists yet take an intelligent interest in birds. The unpleasantness was at the sight of skins stuffed with wool and set up on their legs in A 2 BIRDS AND MAN imitation of the living bird, sometimes (oh, mockery!) in their “natural surroundings.” These “surroundings ” are as a rule constructed or composed of a few handfuls of earth to form the floor of the glass case—sand, rock, clay, chalk, or gravel; whatever the material may be it invariably has, like all “ matter out of place,” a grimy and depressing appearance.

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