A Shepherd's Life
Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs

A lyrical evocation of the Wiltshire countryside in the nineteenth century, written by acclaimed naturalist William Henry Hudson in 1910.

William Henry Hudson (Author)

9781108025348, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 January 2011

378 pages, 64 b/w illus. 1 colour illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.48 kg

William Henry Hudson (1841–1922) was an Argentinian-born American naturalist and author, who moved to England in 1874, and became known for his writings on natural history, both Argentine and English, and for his work with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He travelled the country, observing wildlife and rural life in general, and won high praise both for his work as a naturalist and for his literary style. A Shepherd's Life, published in 1910, contains his impressions of the Wiltshire Downs - the people, places, wildlife and history - which are enhanced by numerous line-drawings. The central character of the book, Caleb Bawcombe, an elderly shepherd, is fictitious, but clearly based on real people Hudson had talked to in Wiltshire, and the overall picture is of continuing closeness to nature, despite enormous changes in agricultural practice, in rural societies at the end of the nineteenth century.

1. Salisbury Plain
2. Salisbury as I see it
3. Winterbourne Bishop
4. A shepherd of the Downs
5. Early memories
6. Shepherd Isaac Bawcombe
7. The deer-stealers
8. Shepherds and poaching
9. A shepherd on foxes
10. Bird-life on the Downs
11. Starlings and sheep-bells
12. The shepherd and the Bible
13. Vale of the Wylye
14. A sheep-dog's life
15. Concerning cats
16. The Ellerbys of Doveton
17. Old Wiltshire days
18. Old Wiltshire days continued
19. The shepherd's return
20. Dark people of the village
21. Some sheep-dogs
22. The shepherd as naturalist
23. The master of the village
24. Isaac's children
25. Living in the past
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]