Birds and Man

Hastings, daws at, 62
Henley, W. E. on bird poems, 286
Herodotus, on flying feathers and snow, 254
Honey buzzard, destruction of the, 228, 236
Humming-bird, defending its nest, 42


Impressions, emotion a condition of their permanence, 6, 15;
    sound, 18;
    durability of, 26


Jackdaws, see Daws
Jays, spring assemblies, 94-100;
    mimicry, 95;
    variability of song, 97;
    their call, 99;
    mode of flight, 99;
    British bird of Paradise, 100
Jefferies, Richard, on yellow flowers, 148


Kearton, Mr Richard, suggestion for the protection of rare birds by, 240
Kennedy, Clark, on the furze wren in Berkshire, 225
King Arthur, legend of, 165
Kingfishers, alive and dead, 12


Land's End, the, 155
La Plata and Patagonia, images of birds of, 26
Lapwing, the spur-winged, and sheep, 44
Leslie's Riverside Letters, 124
Letters of Rusticus, 226
Linnets, a concert of, 188
Livett, Dr, a raven story told by, 171
Long-tailed tit at its best, 16
Lynton, wood wren at, 97


Macgillivray, on the redbreast, 48
Magellanic geese. See Geese
Magpie, manner of flight of, 284
Mammals, relations of birds with, 38
Man, from the birds' point of view, 37;
    the robin's pleasure in his company, 48
Maxwell, Sir Herbert, on the "cursed collector," 161
Medum, representation of geese at, 203
Memory of things seen, 18;
    of things heard, 18
Montagu's Dictionary of Birds, account of the jay in, 95
Mivart, St George, on dead birds, 270


Naturalist, the old and new, 294
Nature, modern sense of the unity of, 294
Newman on the Dartford warbler, 226
Nightingale, quality of its voice, 128
Nothura maculosa, the "partridge" of Argentina, 252


Ossian's address to the sun, 148
Owl, wood, hooting of the, 178;
    superstitions regarding the, 181;
    a pet, 184
Owls, in a village, 173


Parrot, caged and free, 249;
    the St Vincent, 250, 254;
    history of a double-fronted amazon, 256;
    a lost language talked by a, 258;
    longevity of the, 261;
    tales and legends of the, 264-268
Partridges and rabbits, 45
Patti, Carlota, bird-like voice of, 128
Peregrine falcon, fight with raven, 167
Peterborough, the great Lord, and a canary, 263
Pheasant and chicks, 52
Pigeon family, the, original notes of, 88
Pigs in the New Forest, 81


Quixote, Don, as to tradition of King Arthur, 165


Rabbits, how regarded by partridges, 45
Ravens, in Somerset, 160;
    aëreal feat of, 161;
    decrease and disappearance of, 169-170;
    superstitious fear of killing, 165;
    last, 170;
    tapping at lighted windows, 170
Raven tree, a, 169
Red, in flowers, human associations of, 141-145
Redbreast, tameness of the, 48
Reed warbler, the, in Somerset, 190-191
Ruskin, "word painting," 72;
    on cathedral daws, 73;
    on the distinction of beauty, 238


Saintbury, village of, 176;
    owl superstitions at, 180
St Vincent parrot, 250;
    anecdote of, 254
Savernake Forest, early spring in, 76;
    daws in, 90;
    jays in, 94
Sea-birds, protection of, 240, 242
Seebohm, on the wood wren, 105;
    on the willow wren, 117;
    on jay assemblies, 95
Selborne, a first sight of, 284;
    changes in its bird population, 293
Sheep, tended by birds, 39;
    quarrel of a spur-winged lapwing with, 44
Sheldrake in Somerset, 191;
    tame and wild, 193;
    appearance when flying, 193;
    singular breeding habits, 194-195
Sigerson, Miss Dora (Mrs Shorter) in "Flight of the Wild Geese," 213
Skylark, song, 116
Somerset, daws in, 59;
    ravens in, 160;
    red warbler in, 190
Sound-images, their durability, 18, 21
Spencer, Herbert, on social animals, 47;
    on the origin of music, 131
Starlings, their services to cattle, 39;
    abundance at Bath of, 71
Summer Studies of Birds and Books, 159
Sunlight, effects on plumage of birds, 3, 12
Swallows, how man is regarded by, 49-53, 55;
    alarmed by a grey hat, 57;
    quality of the voice of, 125;
    Gilbert White on hybernation of, 291
Swifts, unconcern of in man's presence, 51;
    at Selborne, 287


Tennyson, on the speedwell, 149
Throstle, loudness of its song, 118
Tits, blue, at Bath, 71;
    long-tailed, seen at their best, 16
Tree-pipit, quality of voice of, 126


Upland geese. See Geese.


Visitants, rare annual slaughter of, 237


Wagtail, pied, attending cows in the pasture ... quality of voice of, 125
Wallace, Alfred Russel, Bird of Paradise assemblies described by, 100
Wells, daws at the cathedral, 60;
    a wood wren at, 102
White, Gilbert, wood wren's song, described by, 106;
    willow wren's song described by, 122;
    associations with, at Selborne, 288;
    an imaginary conversation with, 291
Whiteness, in flowers, 146;
    magnifying effect of, 193
Willersey, owls at, 173;
    a pet wood owl at, 184
Willow wren, Burroughs on the song of the, 101;
    Gilbert White's description of its song, 122;
    Warde Fowler's description of its song, 121, 122;
    abundance and wide distribution of, 117
Willoughby, Father of British Ornithology, willow wren described by, 118
Wood lark, Burns' address to, 127
Wood owl. See Owls.
Wood pigeon, song of, 85;
    human quality in voice of, 87-90
Wood wren, at Wells, 102;
    difficulty in seeing, 103;
    inquisitiveness, 104;
    secret of its charm, 114
Wookey Hole, source of the Somerset Axe, 59
Wordsworth, bird voices preferred by, 107


Year with the Birds, A, 122
Yellow, in flowers, 146
Yellow-hammer, singing in the rain, 285