THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 

 W. H. Hudson 



Introduction by David Bellamy 



Today's W. H. Hudsons are, one supposes, mostly 

 television natural history presenters and programme 

 makers; people like David Attenborough and David 

 Bellamy. Fifty, sixty, seventy years ago however, 

 natural history writing was ^literary', more discursive 

 and poetic. At its best, late nineteenth-century, early 

 twentieth-century natural history writing exhorted 

 and inspired readers to observe, collect, enjoy and 

 preserve the countryside and its wildlife. And with- 

 out the like of W. H. Hudson - true scientists and 

 true writers (a rare combination) - such of the 

 EngHsh countryside that remains and is protected 

 might have disappeared forever. 



These essays live and breathe with as much vitality 

 as when they were first written. 



ISBN 7045 3044 9 £3.50 



