Citizen Bird

Scenes from Bird-Life in Plain English for Beginners, A Critical Edition

Mabel Osgood Wright, Elliott Coues, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Elliot Coues, Elizabeth Cherry, Meghan Freeman

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781978837065, 9781978837072
• eBook ISBN: 9781978837096
• Subtopic: Zoology

In the late nineteenth century, American bird lovers faced a crisis. Bird species were becoming endangered or even extinct at an alarming rate, and old methods of hunting and collecting specimens accelerated the process. A new conservationist approach to birding was necessary, and it needed to be taught to the next generation of Americans. Thus 1897's Citizen Bird, the first birding guide for children, was born. A tremendously influential text in the Progressive-era United States, it inspired in a generation of schoolchildren a love of wild birds and the desire to protect them.  
 
Born of a collaboration between naturalist Mabel Osgood Wright, ornithologist Elliott Coues, and bird artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the book is vital to the history of birding and the broader study of nineteenth-century American culture and literature. This new edition of Citizen Bird preserves the original book's 111 drawings and adds explanatory footnotes, supplemental historical material, and a new introduction. More than a century and a quarter after its original publication, Elizabeth Cherry and Meghan Freeman contextualize the book in the tradition and history of birding and discuss the roles of its authors and illustrator in birding history. A landmark text in the history of American conservationism, Citizen Bird is a timeless classic that will bring joy to birdwatchers of all ages.  
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction: Citizen Bird in Its Contexts
• Citizen Bird: Scenes from Bird-Life in Plain English for Beginners
• Appendix 1: Supplementary Material on Citizen Bird
• Appendix 2: Historical Materials on Nineteenth-Century Birding and Audubon
• Appendix 3: Other Works of Nineteenth-Century Nature Writing and Children’s Literature
• Appendix 4: Further Reading
• Acknowledgments
• About the Contributors
• Index