Wake-Robin
Burroughs, John, 1837-1921
English
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THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS
WITH PORTRAITS AND MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME I
WAKE-ROBIN
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
This is mainly a book about the Birds, or more properly an invitation
to the study of Ornithology, and the purpose of the author will be
carried out in proportion as it awakens and stimulates the interest of
the reader in this branch of Natural History.
Though written less in the spirit of exact science than with the
freedom of love and old acquaintance, yet I have in no instance taken
liberties with facts, or allowed my imagination to influence me to the
extent of giving a false impression or a wrong coloring. I have reaped
my harvest more in the woods than in the study; what I offer, in fact,
is a careful and conscientious record of actual observations and
experiences, and is true as it stands written, every word of it. But
what has interested me most in Ornithology is the pursuit, the chase,
the discovery; that part of it which is akin to hunting, fishing, and
wild sports, and which I could carry with me in my eye and ear
wherever I went.
I cannot answer with much confidence the poet's inquiry,--
"Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?"
but I have done what I could to bring home the "river and sky" with
the sparrow I heard "singing at dawn on the alder bough." In other
words, I have tried to present a live bird,--a bird in the woods or
the fields,--with the atmosphere and associations of the place, and
not merely a stuffed and labeled specimen.
A more specific title for the volume would have suited me better; but
not being able to satisfy myself in this direction, I cast about for a
word thoroughly in the atmosphere and spirit of the book, which I hope
I have found in "Wake-Robin," the common name of the white Trillium,
which blooms in all our woods, and which marks the arrival of all the
birds.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION TO RIVERSIDE EDITION
I. THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS
II. IN THE HEMLOCKS
III. THE ADIRONDACKS
IV. BIRDS'-NESTS
V. SPRING AT THE CAPITAL
VI. BIRCH BROWSINGS
VII. THE BLUEBIRD
VIII. THE INVITATION
INDEX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
JOHN BURROUGHS
Etched by W. H. W. Bicknell, from a daguerreotype
PARTRIDGE'S NEST
From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason
A CABIN IN THE ADIRONDACKS
From a photograph by Clifton Johnson
AMERICAN OSPREY, OR FISH HAWK (colored)
From a drawing by L. A. Fuertes
BIRD'S-FOOT VIOLETS
From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason
BLUEBIRD
From a drawing by L. A. Fuertes
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