The lore of the lyrebird

by Ambrose Pratt

Octavo, Hardcover, Gilt Lettered & Decoration, 1938, PP.79,

Genres: Nature

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most enchanting books you will ever read. Ignore Ambrose' Pratt's dull twaddle, although it's useful for facts. Pay attention to widowed Mrs Wilkinson and her extraordinary relationship with James, the lyrebird. I'm lucky enough to live somewhere that you get to see lyrebirds in the wild. Occasionally. But I've never experienced anything like the world that James and Mrs W. inhabited. She was an intriguing woman in herself although I had to dig hard to find out facts about her. She was something of a recluse which didn't gel well with her need to sell plants from her tiny nursery in the Dandenongs. Working on her garden, reading and communing with James (and his girlfriends) seemed to be enough. It's nice to dip into a world where that is enough.

[Radiantflux · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st book for 2017.

A really beautifully produced book, containing not only a very nice translation of Ambrose Pratt's 1933 classic 'Lore of the Lyrebird', but also a substantive appendix with text and color photographs, updating, and where necessary correcting, Pratt's original text.

I was very lucky as a child growing up in Melbourne to see a Lyrebird dance in Dandenong mountains (and to hear their songs from a distance a couple of times later as an adult).