i



Cloth, gilt top, Small 8vo., Six Shillings net.


THE


BIRDS OF TENNYSON,


BY


WATKIN WATKINS, B.A.Cantab.


Member of the British Ornithologists' Union.



“ Many as are the volumes which have been written on different phases and aspects

of our late laureate’s works, this, we think, is the first time that a whole book has been

devoted to “The Birds of Tennyson.” Mr. W. Watkins, the author, is a member of the

British Ornithologists’ Union, and has, therefore, a scientific as well as a literary interest

in the subject. And his verdict in the matter is this—that ‘ No poet is so satisfactory to

the ornithologist [as Tennyson], for no poet had a more accurate knowledge of birds or

had a happier power of describing their peculiarties.’ Mr. Watkins’ pages are, indeed,

themselves a testimony to the acuteness as well as the frequency with which Tennyson

described the ‘ feathered tribe.’ All this, of course, is an old story to the students of the

poet, but it is pleasant to find Tennyson’s references to birds collected and systematised as

they are in this agreeable treatise, which is, as it should be, carefully and usefully indexed.

In his introduction Mr. Watkins deals with Tennyson’s allusions to birds in general, and

in subsequent chapters discourses successively of birds of song, birds of passage, birds of

prey, birds of sport and so forth The result should convince those who are not already

convinced that as a poet of the birds Tennyson ranks with Shakespeare. Mr. Watkins, as

a naturalist, of course appreciates fully the poet’s stanzas on 1 The Throstle,’ of which the

ignorant have been accustomed to make game. He recognises the fidelity with which the

bird’s ‘note ’ is reflected in such lines, homely enough, as—


' Summer is coming, summer is coming,


I know it, I know it, I know it.’


And he gives other instances of the poet’s successful translation of birds’ song into literary

speech.”—The Globe.



“ Lovers and all in quest of unhackneyed forms of endearment could not do better

than add to their possessions a copy of ‘The Birds of Tennyson,’ by Watkin Watkins.

The book is a well-compiled number of extracts from the poems of Tennyson, Wordsworth

Shakespeare, Byron, Chaucer, Milton- Cowper, and other poets, in which the manners and

customs of birds are introduced as similes, in dainty lines. The volume contains some

excellent illustrations of birds by G. E- Lodge.”—Pall Mall Gazette.



“ Mr. Watkins, who must have spent a vast deal of time in the study of Tennyson’s

poetry from the natural history point of view, publishes a number of extracts, and enlarges

on them in a most interesting manner. Mr. Watkins’ book should prove very acceptable

to Tennyson lovers.”—The Yorkshire Post.



“ ‘ The Birds of Tennyson ’ should have a strong attraction, for its well-written

pages are a powerful proof of the great influence exercised upon the impressionable mind

of the poet by the beauties of form and the joyous songs of the feathered kingdom.

There is another class of readers who should also find much pleasure in a perusal of the

volume—those lovers of Tennyson as a poet who, not taking any special thought about

birds, will be astonished to find how much their favourite poet knew about them and how

narrowly he observed the life that moved about him. They will find, too, by the aid of

Mr. Watkins’ comments as an expert, how appropriately Tennyson employed his innumer¬

able references to birds of all kinds, and especially song birds. Excellent illustrations by

G. B]. Lodge enhance the value of the volume.”—The Shrewsbury Chronicle.



LONDON:


R. Porter, 7, Princes Street,


CAVENDISH SQUARE, W.



