Lowell begins with a tribute to Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne and its genial knack of taking a reader out of doors, then turns to his own patch of ground in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There he records the birds that nested, quarrelled and raided around him, from yellow-birds defending their nest to the neighbours who plotted against it, with affection and a good deal of humour.
A short, charming essay for birdwatchers and admirers of the American nature-writing tradition. Download the free EPUB.