Birdscapes : birds in our imagination and experience / Jeremy Mynott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mynott, Jeremy, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bird watching.

Human-animal relationships.

Birds--Psychological aspects.

Birds.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 367 p., 8 p. of plates ) ill. (some col.), maps, music ;

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2009]

Summary:

What draws us to the beauty of a peacock, the flight of an eagle, or the song of a nightingale? Why are birds so significant in our lives and our sense of the world? And what do our ways of thinking about and experiencing birds tell us about ourselves? Birdscapes is a unique meditation on the variety of human responses to birds, from antiquity to today, and from casual observers to the globe-trotting "twitchers" who sometimes risk life, limb, and marriages simply to add new species to their "life lists."

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

1. Wondering about birds

2. Amusive birds: Attraction and association

3. Seeing a difference

4. Rarity value

5. Beauty and the beholder

6. The sense of sound

7. A time and a place

8. Wild nature: The politics of preference

9. Naming matters

10. Birds are good to think with

Envoi: “Stirred for a bird”

Appendix 1. Some Notable Lists: The Sumerians, Thomas Jefferson, John Clare

Appendix 2. Birds and Bonnets: A New York Hat Story

Appendix 3. Nightingale Mysteries

Appendix 4. Some Australian Bird Names

Reference Matter

Index of Birds

General Index

Acknowledgements and Permissions

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [323]-345) and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781400832835

1400832837

OCLC:

1272993665