Bird Stories
Public-domain ebook
Bird Stories
Language: en3,992 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Animals-Wild-Birds·Children & Young Adult Reading·Nature/Gardening/Animals
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #25600.
About this book
Bird Stories is a whimsical anthology of juvenile tales that blend natural observation with gentle moral fables. The book opens with a formal acknowledgment to Robert J. Sim, whose field notes, sketches, and illustrations underpin the narrative, and then launches into the first story, “Chick, D.D.”. In a forest of firs that resemble church steeples, a black‑capped bird‑minister sings his own name while preaching peace and goodwill. The opening scene describes an icy winter landscape, the bird’s hunger, and a series of vivid, almost cinematic details, crackling icicles, the “Woodland Music after an Ice‑Storm,” and a farmer boy’s snowshoe trek that delivers gifts tied to branches. The prose moves from the bird’s earnest quest for food to the joyful discovery of suet, setting a tone of hopeful perseverance amid a richly described natural world.
The voice is earnest and lyrical, echoing early‑20th‑century children’s literature that prized moral instruction wrapped in nature study. Patch’s language is ornate yet accessible, with frequent personification of birds and a rhythm that mimics the songs of the creatures themselves. Readers who enjoy gentle adventure, illustrated wildlife stories, and a nostalgic, didactic style will find this collection appealing, especially those who appreciate a blend of factual bird behavior with imaginative storytelling.
Who appears in Bird Stories
- Robert J. SimMiddle‑aged man in early 1900s field coat, round spectacles, straw hat, notebook in hand
- EveYoung girl in modest turn‑of‑century dress, pinafore, hair in braids, holding a sketchbook
- PetroBoy of about ten, wool cap, rough‑spun shirt, boots, clutching a wooden bird whistle
The opening · free to read
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.
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