Mateship with Birds

With the original introduction by C.J. Dennis and a new foreword by Sean Dooley.

Ninety years on, A.H. Chisholm¿s classic Mateship with Birds is still as fresh and inspirational as an early-morning walk in the bush, the air resounding with birdsong. His account of the secret lives of birds ¿ their seasonal doings and their complex relationships ¿ reflects his patient and detailed observations, and his deep enjoyment of the Australian bush and all its inhabitants.

This is not just a book for bird-lovers. Chisholm¿s charming and often humorous prose reveals a man who loves words as well as birds. His style of writing and the historical photographs accompanying his text provide a gentle record of a period that already feels like `the old days¿.

But Chisholm wrote with an urgent message to the future. He could clearly see the threat that `the moving finger of Civilisation¿ posed to birdlife, and his account of the tragic demise of the Paradise Parrot ends with this passionate exhortation: `What are the bird-lovers of Australia going to do about this matter of vanishing Parrots? Surely it is a subject worthy of the closest attention of all good Australians.¿

With the reissuing of this book, we honour these words, and offer his delight in `the loveliest and the best of Nature¿s children¿ to a new generation.