The Burgess Bird Book for Children
1919
The Burgess Bird Book for Children
1919
A book that will make children fall in love with birds before they realize they're learning. Thornton W. Burgess, writing in 1919, understood that the best education feels like adventure. Through the curious eyes of Peter Rabbit and the sharp tongue of saucy Jenny Wren, young readers are invited into the Old Orchard where birds aren't names in a field guides, they are neighbors with personalities, dramas, and secrets. Each chapter introduces a new feathered character: the melodious Wood Thrush singing from the treetops, the secretive Screech Owl who knows all the moonlit goings-on, the proud Redwing guarding his marsh. Between the stories of migration, nesting, and song, there is real ornithological knowledge woven into narratives that feel as natural as the birds themselves. What makes this book endure is not just its gentle humor or its obvious love of the natural world, but how it transforms watching into wondering. Over a century later, it still works that magic.
Editions
X-Ray
“You don't know what you are talking about, and no one sounds so silly as one who tries to talk about something he knows nothing about.””
— Thornton W. Burgess
“A good thing is good, but more than enough of a good thing is too much.””
— Thornton W. Burgess
“Have you seen Sally Sly the Cowbird around here this spring?" Peter nodded. "Yes," said he, "I have." "I'm sorry to hear it," declared Sunshine. "She made us a lot of trouble last year. But we fooled her." "How did you fool her?" asked Peter. Sunshine paused to pick a tiny worm from a leaf. "Well," said he, "she found our nest just after we had finished it and before Mrs. Sunshine had had a chance to lay an egg. Of course you know what she did." "I can guess," replied Peter. "She laid one of her own eggs in your nest." Sunshine stopped to pick two or three more worms from the leaves. "Yes," said he. "She did just that, the lazy good-for-nothing creature! But it didn't do her a bit of good, not a bit. That egg never hatched. We fooled her and that's what we'll do again if she repeats that trick this year." "What did you do, throw that egg out?" asked Peter. "No," replied Sunshine. "Our nest was too deep for us to get that egg out. We just made a second bottom in our nest right over that egg and built the sides of the nest a little higher. Then we took good care that she didn't have a chance to lay another egg in there.””
— Thornton W. Burgess
“Mrs. Bluebird, like most mothers, is altogether too busy to spend much time taking care of her clothes; and fine clothes need a lot of care,””
— Thornton W. Burgess
