An old treasure from my bookshelf

My home is filled with books. So many that I often don't realize what I have here. Sometimes, when searching for a particular book I come across others that I'd forgotten about. This post on Lake Life today reminded me of a treasure. The Burgess Bird Book for Children was originally published in 1919. My well-used copy was published in 1965 and has color illustrations by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

This is a wonderful book to introduce children to birds. I think I bought my copy back when I was teaching elementary school and read it on occasion to my students during the last moments of the school day. Burgess includes information about each birds' appearance, habits, and personality incorporated into story form. He includes those birds that little children are most likely to see and the illustrations are true to life.

The story begins with the arrival of Mistress Spring. Peter Rabbit goes into the orchard looking for spring's new arrivals and meets Jenny Wren, the local gossip, who is happy to tell him all about the other birds as they arrive in the Green Meadows. One by one Peter Rabbit meets all of the common country birds and learns about them from Jenny Wren. What is most endearing to me are the names that Burgess gives each of the birds. There is Bully the English Sparrow, Slaty the Junco, Dear Me the Phoebe, and Scrapper the Kingbird among the cast of characters. This book is worth searching out in your local library or used bookstore, even if you don't have children. Burgess' love for birds is obvious. Is it any wonder I love this book - bird stories told by a bunny!