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sophia_sol) wrote2022-08-06 04:57 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2022-08-06 04:57 pm
Birds Through an Opera-Glass, by Florence A. Merriam
I first heard about this book a few years ago, before I first became interested in birding, but was intrigued by it because of the history and context. Birding in a Western context originated with the approach of going out into the field to shoot birds, and then taking the dead birds home with you to analyse in detail for identification. But in the late 19th century there was a movement to change this, because enthusiasts all going out to kill birds is not actually good for the well-being of birds. And this book was written with that agenda in mind: to convince readers that it is worthwhile to examine live birds in the field, and then leave them be.
When I tried reading it at the time I first heard of it, though, I very quickly became bored of it and gave up. But recently it occurred to me that the book might read better to someone who has an intrinsic love of birds properly installed, and gave it another try - and it was so worth it!
It's fascinating to compare this book to modern field guides. Its approach is so different! Of course, due to the type of printing available at the time, detailed full-colour images of every bird can't reasonably be included, so there are just a few black and white drawings here and there. But also the information provided in the text itself is so different! This is where your can really see its agenda. It earnestly takes its time to tell you personalized individual little stories about times the author has encountered these birds, and what an interesting and charming experience it was. It also spends a lot of time describing the birds' personalities, in very human-like ways! But of course it does. It wants to convince the reader that the birds are worth keeping alive.
The other information it provides is more haphazard. It nearly always takes the time to discuss habitats, nesting habits, and something of appearance, but the level of detail is wildly variable, and it's rarely sufficient that I would feel confident in identifying a bird based on the description. Sometimes the author attempts to convey what the bird's songs and calls sound like, but it's hopeless to give meaningful information on this through the medium of text, though it's clear when the author thinks it's particularly important for a bird that you know what it sounds like, and is really earnestly trying to help you out. Too bad the Merlin app didn't exist in 1889!
And it makes some very odd choices about how to organise its information. For example: its discussion of the different orders and families to which birds belong is.....in the section on chipping sparrows, more than 60 pages into the book. Then the classifications are mentioned on and off, inconsistently, until they're summarized as a whole in the section on thrushes at page 195. What the heck! It makes it clear that the expected use of the book is to read it front to back, rather than just to pick it up as a reference to figure out a particular bird you're seeing. Though the back does have some....mildly useful appendices for looking up birds by specific characteristic.
But the nesting habits and behaviour descriptions are actually nice to have (even if they're couched in flowery victorian nature-writing language) because modern field guides don't seem to tend to include that information, just details on appearance and a brief suggestion of habitat, with only occasional additional info. Modern field guides want to fit as many birds as possible into as pocket-sized a book as possible, and so they keep their text very short, and I do think this is too bad!
I also loved getting the insights into some of the old or more regional names for some of the birds, instead of just the official name you get in modern field guides! "Bee martin" for kingbird! "Chippy" for chipping sparrow! "Crow blackbird" for grackle! "Yellow hammer" and a whole collection of other options for the northern flicker! (in fact I had to go look this one up in Merlin using the description given for the yellow hammer to determine for sure which bird was being referred to, because "northern flicker" isn't among any of the names given for the bird in this book!)
It also has fun little bits of sass (for example, when it talks about the chipping sparrow's song, it says the bird has a "cheerful perseverance that would grace a better cause," lol) but sometimes in its efforts to personify the birds it's pretty mean. The author clearly doesn't think highly of flycatchers for example, and I felt very indignant. "All the disagreeable qualities of the flycatchers seem to centre in this bird," it says about the kingbird, and I'm just like HOW RUDE. HOW DARE YOU. YOU'RE SO WRONG.
At any rate I'm very glad that this book was written at the time it was for the purpose it was, and it was an enjoyable look into a different era of birding, despite its foibles!
When I tried reading it at the time I first heard of it, though, I very quickly became bored of it and gave up. But recently it occurred to me that the book might read better to someone who has an intrinsic love of birds properly installed, and gave it another try - and it was so worth it!
It's fascinating to compare this book to modern field guides. Its approach is so different! Of course, due to the type of printing available at the time, detailed full-colour images of every bird can't reasonably be included, so there are just a few black and white drawings here and there. But also the information provided in the text itself is so different! This is where your can really see its agenda. It earnestly takes its time to tell you personalized individual little stories about times the author has encountered these birds, and what an interesting and charming experience it was. It also spends a lot of time describing the birds' personalities, in very human-like ways! But of course it does. It wants to convince the reader that the birds are worth keeping alive.
The other information it provides is more haphazard. It nearly always takes the time to discuss habitats, nesting habits, and something of appearance, but the level of detail is wildly variable, and it's rarely sufficient that I would feel confident in identifying a bird based on the description. Sometimes the author attempts to convey what the bird's songs and calls sound like, but it's hopeless to give meaningful information on this through the medium of text, though it's clear when the author thinks it's particularly important for a bird that you know what it sounds like, and is really earnestly trying to help you out. Too bad the Merlin app didn't exist in 1889!
And it makes some very odd choices about how to organise its information. For example: its discussion of the different orders and families to which birds belong is.....in the section on chipping sparrows, more than 60 pages into the book. Then the classifications are mentioned on and off, inconsistently, until they're summarized as a whole in the section on thrushes at page 195. What the heck! It makes it clear that the expected use of the book is to read it front to back, rather than just to pick it up as a reference to figure out a particular bird you're seeing. Though the back does have some....mildly useful appendices for looking up birds by specific characteristic.
But the nesting habits and behaviour descriptions are actually nice to have (even if they're couched in flowery victorian nature-writing language) because modern field guides don't seem to tend to include that information, just details on appearance and a brief suggestion of habitat, with only occasional additional info. Modern field guides want to fit as many birds as possible into as pocket-sized a book as possible, and so they keep their text very short, and I do think this is too bad!
I also loved getting the insights into some of the old or more regional names for some of the birds, instead of just the official name you get in modern field guides! "Bee martin" for kingbird! "Chippy" for chipping sparrow! "Crow blackbird" for grackle! "Yellow hammer" and a whole collection of other options for the northern flicker! (in fact I had to go look this one up in Merlin using the description given for the yellow hammer to determine for sure which bird was being referred to, because "northern flicker" isn't among any of the names given for the bird in this book!)
It also has fun little bits of sass (for example, when it talks about the chipping sparrow's song, it says the bird has a "cheerful perseverance that would grace a better cause," lol) but sometimes in its efforts to personify the birds it's pretty mean. The author clearly doesn't think highly of flycatchers for example, and I felt very indignant. "All the disagreeable qualities of the flycatchers seem to centre in this bird," it says about the kingbird, and I'm just like HOW RUDE. HOW DARE YOU. YOU'RE SO WRONG.
At any rate I'm very glad that this book was written at the time it was for the purpose it was, and it was an enjoyable look into a different era of birding, despite its foibles!
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Of course, Audubon was very much of the "shoot them to examine later" school of ornithology, but if you enjoy 19th century pop sci, the Audubon Society site includes his written descriptions alongside his paintings.
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And thanks for the link, I will have to take a look!
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That's such an interesting reading experience--when you try the first time and it's not clicking, and then you have some sort of experience/gather new knowledge, and the second time it works!
I'm just like HOW RUDE. HOW DARE YOU. YOU'RE SO WRONG.
I am in LOVE with your reaction!!! Having strong feelings about such things!!!
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Yeah, it really reminds me how much a book is a collaboration between what the writer puts on the page and what the reader brings to it! This is not the first time it's taken me multiple goes to be the right person to enjoy a particular book, but I think it is the quickest and most dramatic change, lol.
I am in LOVE with your reaction!!! Having strong feelings about such things!!!
I am very good at having strong feelings! :D
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Having those strong feelings in defense of maligned bird species is just so endearing!!!
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lollllllllllllllll
I love your indignation on behalf of flycatchers! And what an interesting artifact in the history of birding.
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