Category: Nature/Gardening/Animals
The birds in these pictures of ours have all nests, which is as it should be; for how could the bird rear its young without its little home and soft little bed, any more than children could be comfortably brought up without either a bed to lie upon, or a home in which to be ha...
The birds in these pictures of ours have all nests, which is as it should be; for how could the bird rear its young without its little home and soft little bed, any more than ch...
2. CHAPTER I.Truly the little Wren, so beautifully depicted by Mr. Harrison Weir, with her tiny body, her pretty, lively, and conceited ways, her short, little turned-up tail, and delicate p...
3. CHAPTER II.The Goldfinch, which is cousin to the Linnet, is wonderfully clever and docile, as I shall show you presently. In the first place, however, let me say a word or two about bird c...
4. CHAPTER III.We have here a charming picture of one of the finest and noblest of our song-birds—the thrush, throstle, or mavis. The trees are yet leafless, but the bird is in the act of buil...
5. CHAPTER IV.The Blackbird is familiar to us all. It is a thoroughly English bird, and, with its cousin the thrush, is not only one of the pleasantest features in our English spring and summ...
6. CHAPTER V.The Dipper, or Water-ousel, of which Mr. Weir has given us a charming and faithful portrait, is very like a wren in form and action, with its round body and lively little tail....
7. CHAPTER VI.Philomela, or the Nightingale, is the head of the somewhat large bird-family of Warblers, and is the most renowned of all feathered songsters, though some judges think the garde...
8. CHAPTER VII.The Skylark, that beautiful singer, which carries its joy up to the very gates of heaven, as it were, has inspired more poets to sing about it than any other bird living.
9. CHAPTER VIII.Linnets are a branch of a larger family of finches, all very familiar to us. They are cousins, also, to the dear, impudent sparrows, and the pretty siskin or aberdevines.
10. CHAPTER IX.The Peewit, lapwing, or plover, belongs to the naturalist family of _Gallatores_ or Waders, all of which are furnished with strong legs and feet for walking, whilst all which in...
11. CHAPTER X.During our winter, swallows inhabit warm tropical countries, migrating northwards with the first approaches of summer. They are usually seen with us from the 13th to the 20th of...
12. CHAPTER XI.The Chiff-chaff, chill-chall, lesser pettichaps, or oven-builder, is one of the great bird-family of warblers, and the smallest of them in size; indeed, it is not much larger th...
13. CHAPTER XII.We have here the Golden-crested Wren—the _Regulus cristatus_ of naturalists—the tiniest of our British birds, “the pleasing fairy-bird,” as Bewick calls it, one of the large fam...
14. CHAPTER XIII.This elegant little bird belongs to the Motacilla, or Wagtail family. There are three brothers of them in this country—the pied, the grey, and the yellow. The pied is the most f...
15. CHAPTER XIV.We have called the Rook and Jackdaw first cousins. They are so, and are greatly attached to each other. There is a difference, however, in their character; the rook is grave and...
16. CHAPTER XV.This pretty little bird is also called the Beam or Pillar-Bird from the position which it chooses for its nest. Building mostly in gardens, it selects the projecting stone of a...
17. CHAPTER XVI.The wood-pigeon, ring-dove, or cushat is one of the most familiar and poetical of our birds. Its low, plaintive coo-goo-roo-o-o is one of the pleasantest sounds of our summer wo...
18. CHAPTER XVII.With none of our migratory birds, our spring visitants from southern lands, is the lover of the country more familiar than with the White-throat, which, with its nest, is here s...
19. CHAPTER XVIII.This bird, which is common to all parts of the country, is very shy, and for the greater part of the year haunts the woods and thickets. In spring, however, its fondness for ten...
20. CHAPTER XIX.This is the largest of our British song birds. It remains with us through the whole year, not being migratory, excepting in so far as it moves off in considerable flocks into He...
21. CHAPTER XX.This, though an extremely pretty bird, is so common that very little notice is taken of it. Its colours are varied and beautiful: the back and wings, bright red; the central par...
22. CHAPTER XXI.You have here a living portrait of the Magpie, sitting, so to speak, on his own door-sill, and contemplating it with rather a sentimental air, perhaps rather with tender admirat...
23. CHAPTER XXII.This bird is almost an entire stranger to most people. It belongs to the rather large family of creepers; birds which, like the woodpecker and the little golden-crested wren, ru...