"For our delight in birds we rely more and more on memories and traditions derived not from life but from books. In doing so, we discover that the history of the bird in human thought is a fascinating and inexhaustible subject. This book is the result of my happy exploration of bird symbolism through the centuries. Occasionally birds themselves cannot be identified with certainty, especially in an age of different avian terminology and definition. But I think that the phantom scientific ornathologist peering critically over my shoulder disappeared when he realized that my concern is not, of course, with birds as they are in nature but as they exist in the mind."

An introduction is followed by numerous short chapters, each dealing with the symbolism of a bird. Each chapter has a black and white illustration from a medieval manuscript.

213 p., illustrations, bibliography, index.

Language: English

ISBN: 0-87049-215-2; LCCN: 77-4230; LC: GR735.R68; DDC: 398'.369'82