WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Riverby cover

Riverby

Chapter 41: INDEX
Open in WeRead

About This Book

A series of observational essays sketches seasonal life along the Hudson from the perspective of a naturalist at his riverside home. Short pieces describe wildflowers, birds (including eggs, courtship, and nesting), mammals such as chipmunks and hawks, prairie and cave impressions, and encounters with sportsmen and young observers. Emphasis rests on close, often lyrical field observation, practical notes on identification and behavior, and contemplative reflections on changing seasons and the quiet pleasures of attending to ordinary creatures and landscapes.

"The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,
That it had its head bit off by it young."

Last season I saw a cow-bunting fully grown following a "chippie" sparrow about, clamoring for food, and really looking large enough to bite off and swallow the head of its parent, and apparently hungry enough to do it. The "chippie" was evidently trying to shake it off and let it shift for itself, for it avoided it and flew from point to point to escape it. Its life was probably made wretched by the greedy monster it had unwittingly reared.


INDEX