eBooks Kindle Edition

Search in New Page

Search » MARK TWAIN, Adventure, Art+ Arts, Beethoven, Sketch, Civil+War, Home, Illustration, Tale, Toy, America, English England, London, Paris, Spain, Japan, Letter, Life, Practical, Baseball, Bird, Book, History, Motor, King, Law, Romance, Design, Craft, Children, +Story, George, George+Eliot, Alexander Dumas, Molesworth, HERBERT STRANG, George Cruikshank, James Otis, Leonard Williams, Lester Chadwick, Roy J. Snell, Walter Besant, Various

Search for : Bird : 6 result(s) | Products 1-6 of 6 | Page 1 of 1

Birds in Flight by W. P. Pycraft : (full image Illustrated) Author: W. P. Pycraft, Illustrator: Roland Green B00IY3GZIG File Size: 1620 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- Wings, Flights, feathers, skeleton, Tails, Falcons, Courtship There are hosts of people who have a genuine love of our native birds without yearning to possess their skins, or desiring to acquire the reputation of being "Ornithologists." They would call them all by name if they could, but seek, alas! in vain, for some book wherein they will find some magic phrase which will enable them to identify every bird they meet by the wayside. Most of our native birds have learnt that "discretion is the better part of valour," when in the neighbourhood of Man. Hence one gets but too often no more than a fleeting glance at their retreating forms, which, from frequent encounters, have become familiar, yet they leave no more than a vague image in the memory. "What bird was that? I have often seen it but have never succeeded in taking it unawares." This is a question, and its comment, often put to me. Those who are in this quandary, and they are many, are always hoping to find some book which will enable them to correctly name the retreating forms. That book will never be written. In the following pages an attempt is made to aid such enquirers, and at the same time the difficulties of the task are pointed out. It is hoped, however, that this attempt will find a welcome among those for whom it is made. If it helps them to understand something, at least, of the absorbing and fascinating problems which the study of flight in the animal kingdom presents, it will at least have served some useful purpose. The pursuit of the flying bird will inevitably stimulate a desire to know more about the bewildering changes of plumage presented at different seasons of the year, as well as by the striking differences which often distinguish the two sexes, and the immature birds. The endeavour to satisfy this desire will open up a new world. Those who would pass to this knowledge should possess themselves of the "Practical Handbook of British Birds." Though most severely practical, and designed for the serious student alone, even the beginner will find interest in the description of these several plumages, and much else beside that it is essential to know. Now that the study of flight is so much to the fore, some may turn to these pages in the hope of gaining useful information on the theme of mechanical flight. Some help they may find. But it was not for this that they were written. The flight of an aeroplane and the flight of a bird have little in common--at present; though something may be learned by the study of gliding flight and soaring, which of course have their place in this book. But anatomical details and mechanical formul?, necessary to the serious student of flight, would have been entirely out of place here, and they have been omitted. My task has been by no means easy. But it has been enormously helped by the extremely skilful and beautiful work of the artist, Mr. Roland Green. Where birds are concerned, few artists in the past, and very few in the present, have shown any ability to combine accuracy in drawing with ingenuity of composition and faithfulness in colouring. Mr. Green has shown this rare combination; his coloured plates and line-drawings speak for themselves. W. P. PYCRAFT. London, September, 1922   The Bird by Jules Michelet Author: Jules Michelet, Illustrator: Hector Giacomelli B00E8H3UGC File Size: 7150 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- nature, birdwatching, WING, ORNITHOLOGIST, NEST, SWALLOW, MIGRATIONS Oiseau," or "The Bird," was first published in 1856. It has since been followed by "L'Insecte" and "La Mer;" the three works forming a trilogy which few writers have surpassed in grace of style, beauty of description, and suggestiveness of sentiment. "L'Oiseau" may be briefly described as an eloquent defence of the Bird in its relation to man, and a poetical exposition of the attractiveness of Natural History. It is animated by a fine and tender spirit, and written with an inimitable charm of language. In submitting the following translation to the English public, I am conscious of an urgent need that I should apologize for its shortcomings. It is no easy matter to do justice to Michelet in English; yet, if I have failed to convey a just idea of his beauties of expression, if I have suffered most of the undefinable aroma of his style to escape, I believe I have rendered his meaning faithfully, without exaggeration or diminution. I have endeavoured to preserve, as far as possible, his more characteristic peculiarities, and even mannerisms, carrying the literalness of my version to an extent which some critics, perhaps, will be disposed to censure. But in copying the masterpiece of a great artist, what we ask of the copyist is, that he will reproduce every effect of light and shade with the severest accuracy; and, in the translation of a noble work from one language to another, the public have a right to demand the same exact adherence to the original. They want to see as much of the author as they can, and as little as may be of the translator. The present version is from the eighth edition of "L'Oiseau," and is adorned with all the original Illustrations. A. E. How the Author was led to the Study of Nature. To my faithful friend, the Public, who has listened to me for so long a period without disfavour, I owe a confession of the peculiar circumstances which, while not leading me altogether astray from history, have induced me to devote myself to the natural sciences. The book which I now publish may be described as the offspring of the domestic circle and the home fireside. It is from our hours of rest, our afternoon conversations, our winter readings, our summer gossips, that this book, if it be a book, has been gradually evolved. Two studious persons, naturally reunited after a day's toil, put together their gleanings, and refreshed their hearts by this closing evening feast. Am I saying that we have had no other assistance? To make such a statement would be unjust, ungrateful. The domesticated swallows which lodged under our roof mingled in our conversation. The homely robin, fluttering around me, interjected his tender notes, and sometimes the nightingale suspended it by her solemn music. The burden of the time, life, labour, the violent fluctuations of our era, the dispersion of a world of intelligence in which we lived, and to which nothing has succeeded, weighed heavily upon me. The arduous toils of history found occasional relaxation in friendly instruction. These pauses, however, are only periods of silence. Where shall we seek repose or moral invigoration, if not of nature? The mighty eighteenth century, which included a thousand years of struggle, rested at its setting on the amiable and consoling, though scientifically feeble book of Bernardin de St. Pierre.[1] It ended with that pathetic speech of Ramond's: "So many irreparable losses lamented in the bosom of nature!" We, whatever we had lost, asked of solitude something more than tears, something more than the dittany[2] which softens wounded hearts. We sought in it a panacea for continual progress, a draught from inexhaustible fountains, a new strength, and--wings. This work, whatever its character, possesses at least the distinction of having entered upon life under the usual conditions of existence. It results from the intimate communion of two souls; and is in all things itself uniform and harmonious because the offspring of two different principles. Of the two souls to which it owes its existence, one was the more powerfully attracted to natural studies by the fact that, in a certain sense, it had been born among them, and had ever preserved their fragrance and sweet savour. The other was so much the more strongly impelled towards them because it had always been separated by circumstances, and detained in the rugged ways of human history.   The Migration of Birds, by T. A. Coward T. A. Coward B00D1IJWJS File Size: 498 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- BIRD, MIGRATION, FLIGHT, HEIGHT, SPEED, Science, Literature Any attempt to elucidate the problems connected with the Migration of Birds must, in the present state of knowledge, contain some theory and speculation, but the diligent observations of an army of careful workers yearly add facts, which though they may appear insignificant when considered alone, tend in the aggregate to confirm or repudiate the conclusions of past workers. I have endeavoured to bring together some of the more important theories, and to give prominence to ascertained facts; I have also striven to check desire on my own part to wander into realms of pure speculation, though conscious that I have not always evidence to support my suggestions. The numbers in brackets ( ) in the text refer to the books or papers mentioned in the list at the end of the volume, which is in no ways an attempt at a full bibliography. I have quoted freely from the works of past and living ornithologists. To these I offer apologies if I have misconstrued their arguments, and acknowledge my indebtedness to those whose observations or writing have given me light. In particular I tender thanks to Mr Wells W. Cooke for his permission to reproduce the maps facing pp. 76, 78, 80. I have found his writings and those of Herr Otto Herman and Mr W. Eagle Clarke especially valuable. Mr Eagle Clarke's long looked-for book on Migration is, as I write, still in the press; had mine been more than a manual I should have hesitated to publish until his had appeared. T. A. Coward. Bowdon, Cheshire, 4 November 1911. CONTENTS 1. MIGRATION OF BIRDS 2. CAUSE AND ORIGIN OF MIGRATION 3. ROUTES 4. THE HEIGHT AND SPEED OF MIGRATION FLIGHT 5. ORIENTATION AND ROUTE FINDING 6. THE DISTANCES TRAVELLED BY BIRDS 7. MIGRATION AND WEATHER 8. THE PERILS OF MIGRATION 9. EARLY IDEAS OF MIGRATION 10. SUGGESTIONS AND GUESSES 11. SUMMARY   Nests and Eggs of Birds of The United States : ILLUSTRATED Thomas G. Gentry B00IVV1ZKE File Size: 3646 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- Ornithological, BIRDS, Nests, Eggs, Hawk, DOVE, America FOR many years we have been of opinion that a work on NESTS and EGGS, in life-like colors, would be a valuable acquisition to ornithological science, and meet a want that has long been felt to exist. After vainly hoping that some more competent person than the writer would see the necessity therefor, and take a step in the right direction, we were beginning to despair of any such enterprise being undertaken, when, to our surprise, two publications, partially of this character, loomed up in the literary horizon, one hailing from Ohio, and the other from New England; the former, a local publication, seemed of such high pecuniary value as to be beyond the public reach; while the latter, fully up to it in merit of learning, but illustrating merely the eggs, was destined to failure from the first, and, after running a brief career, has at last ceased to exist. Under these circumstances we embarked in the project, in the confident expectation that our ornithological friends and others would give us encouraging support. The utter impracticability and, we may say, impossibility of any scheme looking to the delineations of all the nests built by the many hundred birds belonging to our country, in the small space of a single volume, was obvious at the outset. All that we could promise our conscience were the figures of representative forms, and this we have kept in view, and endeavored to fulfil. To future series, if there should be a demand, we will leave the continuation of the subject, when, not being necessarily restricted to family types, we shall labor to invest the Plates with greater charms and attractiveness in the shape of rarer and more magnificent birds. Upon cursory examination it will readily be perceived that the work has considerably deviated from its original aim. This change occurred shortly after the issuance of the third number, and in obedience to the popular demand, which insisted that the birds should be given with the nests, thereby entailing increased expense, but adding, it cannot be denied, largely to the beauty, utility and value of the publication. This innovation, dictated by good sense and sound knowledge, necessitated further expenditures of capital. In order that an air of uniformity should pervade the entire work, it was very essential that extra plates of birds should be furnished for the early drawings of nests. Determined that the work should be first class in every respect, and well worthy of patronage, the publisher spared not the expense, and once more exceeded the promises made to his patrons. Especial pains have been taken with the text. The aim of the author has been to present a short, plain and detailed account of the habits of each species described, from the time of its arrival, if a migrant, until its retirement to the South in the fall. In the case of resident birds, he has been particular to give their winter history in addition to that of the breeding season, in the same orderly and continuous manner as is apparent in his descriptions of their more migratory brethren. The presentation of the events in regular sequence, if great care be not taken, is sure to lead to monotony. This he has tried to avoid, but how well he has succeeded, he defers to the judgment of his readers. Throughout the work, considerable prominence has been given to those interesting and curious phases of bird-life which are present during the breeding-period, and which have been the principal study of the author for many years. Extraneous matter has been sedulously omitted, and nothing permitted to appear about which there could be serious doubts of accuracy. While he has drawn largely and, in very many instances, almost entirely from his own observations, recorded and unrecorded, for material, he has not hesitated to consult the writings of others, or to avail himself of the statements of reliable correspondents, where his own knowledge has been incomplete or defective. Wilson, Audubon, Nuttall, Brewer, although dead, have spoken to him through their valuable works, and yielded up their varied observations for occasional selections. Among living authors, to Baird, Coues, Ridgway, Allen, Samuels, Cory and Minot, and others less eminent, he has had access through their writings, and he now takes this opportunity of returning to them his grateful acknowledgments. In the arrangement of the details of the Plates, the artist has been subject to the suggestions and dictations of the author, the constant aim of the latter being to secure accuracy in this respect, as well as the greatest variety possible. The typography, for clearness, sharpness, regularity and finish, has rarely been surpassed by that of any other work. Much praise is due the enterprising publisher for his liberality and public-spiritedness. With these few preliminary remarks, we send this beautiful book out into the world, trusting that it may meet with a cordial reception everywhere. If it be the means of acquainting man with the lovable manners and interesting domestic relations of a few, though not all, of our feathered friends, and of restraining our youth from nest-destroying propensities by offering them pictures of the homes of birds for study and contemplation, and thus abate the evil; or if it add but one new fact to the author's favorite science of ornithology, or benefit it in any way whatever, he will rest satisfied, and feel that he has not labored in vain. Thomas G. Gentry. Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa., May, 1882.   Among the Birds in Northern Shires by Charles Dixon : (full image Illustrated) Author: Charles Dixon, Illustrator: Charles Whymper B00L78ANR4 File Size: 1726 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- bird, Forest, British, Mountain, Migration, bird-life, ornithological The present volume must be regarded more as a popular introduction to the bird-life of our northern shires than in any way as an exhaustive faunal treatise, although at the same time we believe almost every indigenous species has been included. For twenty years we lived surrounded by these northern birds, so that we may fairly claim to have served our ornithological apprenticeship amongst them. With the birds of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire we are specially familiar; whilst repeated visits not only to the Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Northumbrian littoral, but farther afield into Lancashire, and various parts of the Lowlands and the Highlands of Scotland, have enabled us to acquire much personal information relating to the avifauna of many a northern shire. The difference between the avifaunæ of the northern and southern shires is strongly marked in many respects. Their study makes a record of avine comparisons of the most intense interest. The important effects produced by latitude and climate upon the bird-life of these widely separated areas make material for fascinating investigation, and have been fully dwelt upon as opportunities were presented. This variation in avine phenomena is not only far too often entirely ignored, but is apt to lead the student of bird-lore astray; due allowance has to be made in many cases for this difference in latitude, and all that it involves. The present volume, then, to a great extent a study of ornithological comparisons, will, we trust, be of some service to the bird lover or the bird student in his task of making allowances. Unquestionably these northern shires from an ornithological point of view are much more interesting than the southern, and especially the south-western counties. Their avifauna is richer, and presents far greater variety, notably during the breeding season; whilst the marvellous phenomenon of Migration there unfolds itself each season in a manner that is never remarked elsewhere. CHARLES DIXON. Paignton, S. Devon. CONTENTS By Upland Streams On Moorlands and Roughs On Mountain and Loch On Heaths and Marshes In Forest and Copse In Farm and Garden By River and Pool On Sea and Shore On Crag and Sea-cliff Migration in the Northern Shires   Bird Stories by Edith M. Patch : (full image Illustrated) Author: Edith M. Patch, Illustrator: Robert J. Sim B00D8KWKAM File Size: 2384 KB.     BUY NOW Book Description :- bird, Peter Piper, Immer Lake, Uncle Sam, Corbie, Clown, Dove LITTLE GATEWAYS TO SCIENCE / BIRD STORIES BY EDITH M. PATCH WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROBERT J. SIM ACKNOWLEDGMENT For help in planning this book, for sharing his bird-notes with the writer, and for a critical reading of the manuscript, acknowledgment should be made to Mr. Robert J. Sim. Certain events in the lives of Eve and Petro and little Solomon Otus are told with reference to his observations of eave-swallows and screech owls; his trip to an island off the Maine coast for gull-sketches added greatly to an acquaintance with Larie; and but for his six-weeks' visit with the loons of "Immer Lake," much of the story of Gavia could not have been told. Since Mr. Sim contributed not only the pictures to the book, but many items of interest to the narrative, it gives the writer pleasure to acknowledge his cooperation, both as artist and as field-naturalist. Edith M. Patch I. CHICK, D.D. Right in the very heart of Christmas-tree Land there was a forest of firs that pointed to the sky as straight as steeples. A hush lay over the forest, as if there were something very wonderful there, that might be meant for you if you were quiet and waited for it to come. Perhaps you have felt like that when you walked down the aisle of a church, with the sun shining through the lovely glass in the windows. Men have often called the woods "temples"; so there is, after all, nothing so very strange in having a preacher live in the midst of the fir forest that grew in Christmas-tree Land. And the sermon itself was not very strange, for it was about peace and good-will and love and helping the world and being happy--all very proper things to hear about while the bells in the city churches, way, way off, were ringing their glad messages from the steeples. But the minister was a queer one, and his very first words would have made you smile. Not that you would have laughed at him, you know. You would have smiled just because he had a way of making you feel happy from the minute he began. He sat on a small branch, and looked down from his pulpit with a dear nod of his little head, which would have made you want to cuddle him in the hollow of your two hands.