Bird Neighbors

Published in 1897, Bird Neighbors is the first major work by the American nature writer Neltje Blanchan (born Nellie De Graff Doubleday, 1865–1918) and her most widely circulated book. Its subtitle is "An Introductory Acquaintance with One Hundred and Fifty Birds Commonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our Homes," and it is aimed at ordinary observers rather than professional scholars: it does not require readers to first master Latin names and taxonomic systems—only to hold up binoculars or stand by a window, willing to take a closer look at the singing neighbors around them. The book first briefly describes the characteristics and representative species of each bird family, then lists nineteen common observation "habitats" (for example, birds near woodland edges, birds near salt water), then groups the birds by season, size, and color, introducing one by one the plumage, songs, nesting habits, diet, and migration patterns of one hundred fifty common North American birds. The main text is preceded and followed by a foreword by the naturalist John Burroughs, who praised the book as "reliable" and "written in a lively style by a genuine bird lover." The book contains numerous illustrations, of which fifty-two color plates, limited by the photographic conditions of the time, were made by photographing bird specimens against suitable backgrounds. After publication, The New York Times praised its color printing and said it was "intelligible to all readers," and the following year included it in its list of "one hundred fifty summer books." Cumulative sales exceeded 250,000 copies, making Blanchan one of the best-selling women nature writers of her time. Read today, it is both an early specimen of the North American birdwatching guide and a work of American nature writing with a poetic personal touch.