Author(s): Jaqueline Mitchell (Editor); Eric Fitch Daglish (Illustrator)

Birds | Poetry | Literature

Thomas Hardy notes the thrush's "full-hearted evensong of joy illimited." Gilbert White observes how swallows sweep through the air but swifts "dash round in circles." Rachel Carson watches sanderlings at the ocean's edge, scurrying "across the beach like little ghosts."  

From early times, we have been entranced by the bird life around us. Including a wide range of authors from the eighteenth century onward, this anthology brings together poetry and prose in celebration of birds. These excerpts, arranged thematically, examine birds from many perspectives, recording their behavior, flight, song, and migration. Writers note changes across the seasons and in different habitats--in woodland and pasture, on river, shoreline, and at sea.

In our own interactions with birds, these writers find common ground. From India to America, from China to Rwanda, writers marvel at the building of a long-tailed tit's nest, the soaring eagle, the extraordinary feats of migration, and the pleasures to be found in our own gardens.  

Including excerpts from Geoffrey Chaucer, Dorothy Wordsworth, Richard Jefferies, Charles Darwin, James Joyce, John Keats, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Anton Chekhov, Kathleen Jamie, and Barbara Kingsolver among many others, this anthology also features detailed black and white woodcut illustrations by British artist Eric Fitch Daglish.

This rich collection will be welcomed by bird-lovers, country ramblers, and anyone who has taken comfort or joy in a bird in flight.  

Review: "For centuries, birds have inspired the abiding interest of writers, and it's easy to see why. . . . Studying birds inevitably leads to interest in a hundred other vivid realities of the natural world. That relationship resonates throughout the pages of Birds: An Anthology. . . Birds is really about the birds of the English countryside and how these flying wonders and their surrounding landscape shape each other. Among the standouts are contributions from Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, George Eliot and Daniel Defoe." -- Danny Heitman * Wall Street Journal *
"This is exactly the sort of book to have nearby when you're simply looking to relax and enjoy the power of the written word - as well as the sight of a well-wrought woodcut - to carry you away to somewhere peaceful and filled with birds." * The Well-Read Naturalist *

Contents: Introduction 1 What is a bird? Definitions over time 4 A Birding Year: Spring 9 Inland: Field, Hedgerow, Pasture, Woodland 35 Bird Song & Songsters 59 A Birding Year: Summer 89 Birds in Flight 107 Hawks & Hawking 131 A Birding Year: Autumn 159 Birds & Man 179 Outland: River, Coast, Sea, Shore 211 A Birding Year: Winter 237 index of authors 259 index of birds 261 acknowledgements 264

Author Biography: Jaqueline Mitchell is a writer and compiler of anthologies, specialising in social and cultural history, and an editor of non-fiction. Eric Fitch Daglish (1894-1966) was a wood engraver and illustrator. His book, 'Birds of the British Isles', was published in 1948.