Winged Wonders: A Celebration of Birds in Human History

by Peter Watkins, Jonathan Stockland

Overview

Winged Wonders celebrates the powerful presence of birds in art and language, in legends and myth, in the sacred books of the ancients and in spiritual symbolism, in proverbial sayings, in nursery rhymes and poetry, in visual imagery and heraldry, in music, dance, and folk customs around the world and throughout history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933346298
Publisher:	BlueBridge
Publication date:	05/01/2010
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	4.68(w) x 7.68(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Peter Watkins is an Anglican vicar and the author of several books, including A Book of Animals. Jonathan Stockland is a former deputy director of education at Oxfam and a former consultant to the United Nations.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 The Cock 1

2 The Cuckoo 11

3 The Dove 25

4 The Eagle 37

5 The Falcon 49

6 The Goose 65

7 The Kingfisher 83

8 The Ostrich 87

9 The Owl 95

10 The Peacock 107

11 The Pelican 121

12 The Raven 135

13 The Robin 143

14 The Sparrow 153

15 The Swan 161

16 The Wren 173

17 Bird Illustrators 181

18 State Birds 187

19 Birdsong 191

Index 202

Acknowledgments 208

Editorial Reviews

"Leave it to the English to draw together, in one slim, delightful volume, nearly all that need be said about birds and humans and their long, complex relationship in history, folklore, and literature."  —Wall Street Journal

"An almanac-like, slightly eccentric avian anthology, gathering poems, scientific oddments, myths, learned observations, and trivia . . . Readers who enjoy books of bird folklore will find these tales . . . a pleasure."  —Washington Post Book World

From the Publisher

Readers who enjoy books of bird folklore will find these tales of cuckoos, eagles, owls and their brethren a pleasure…
—The Washington Post

Gregory McNamee

In this lovely book . . . the authors, avid birdwatchers, have collected a prodigious number of quotations. An excellent source for bird-related allusions, or for dipping into by bird lovers.

Booklist

This lighthearted miscellany is devoted to some of the birds that have inspired the human imagination through the ages. The authors discuss the characteristics of 16 familiar species and present intriguing stories gleaned from avian legends, poems, songs, nursery rhymes, religious stories and folktales from around the world. One learns why the eagle is a symbol of imperial power, the goose is sacred to certain gods, the ostrich is believed (mistakenly) to bury its head in the sand, the peacock and the pelican are symbols of resurrection, and the game of mah-jongg derives its name from the Chinese word for sparrow. There are morsels of information about everything from falconry and cockfighting to the origin of the Mother Goose tales. The book concludes with a brief history of birds in book illustration and a paean to the beauty of birdsong, with a list of musical compositions it has inspired. Although the authors are British-Watkins (A Book of Animals) is a vicar in West London, and Stockland is a former deputy director of education at Oxfam (Great Britain)-they include in their affectionate exploration of avian-human relations a chapter on America's state birds. 26 illus. (Oct.)

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