"The variety and numbers of birds which bred or occurred in Anglo-Saxon England depended on the environment which on the whole was highly favourable. The contemporary interest in birds is shown by their mention in a wide variety of sources and subjects and in an extensive collection of Old English names. The systematic list of bird names and the sources are given later in this paper which is concerned with genuinely wild species and not with non-specific poetic names or with domestic fowl." - Stanford

Language: English