Word: birding
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...some reason in most exhibitions of this sort a premium seems to be placed on quantity rather than on quality. Perhaps this is because the usual diet varies so radically in different parts of the world. For instance a middle westerner who has consumed a meal of bird's nests and caterpillars might think himself entitled to a fairly good niche in the Hall of Fame, while a Chinese coolie commenting on the achievement would be at a loss to understand why a man deserved any praise for eating his Sunday dinner. Quantity, however, in connection with such feats...
Said he, "This bird is soaking...
...insisted upon keeping a parrot in the vicinity of headquarters. On the day before the engagement it kept screaming, 'Demain, mort aux Boches! (To morrow, death to the Germans!) I asked my aide to muzzle his eloquent but indiscreet pet. But just as my order was given that bird exulted, 'Allaos! (There we go.) Perhaps he had a soul, but I am inclined to think he was just a mean, clever bird...
Hand on the bird That pivots over a spinning jet of air. Treading his tiny whirlpool-let my word Soften the iron synod of despair...
Part of the overtone is homeliness: there is a prose poem on turning mattresses and tucking fresh sheets in an old house. Part is swiftness and grace: Mr. Dunnock, before his birds become his angels, skates on the fens like a big bird himself. Part is earthiness: angry yokels plow a furrow across the vicarage lawn, plow up the doorstep, with three chestnut horses steaming and gleaming on a snowy morning. Part is uneasy: a weathercock whines; people tell their dreams; once Mr. Dunnock stuffs his beard quickly into his mouth...