Richard Jefferies

I was fortunate to be given a book for Christmas written by the great Victorian naturalist and writer Richard Jefferies. This is a now out of print second hand copy found in an Oxfam shop. The original was written in 1871 and this is a reprint from 1948 produced "in conformity with the Authorised Economy Standards" post war. The part that interests me is the second half of the book the section entitled Red Deer containing Jefferies' writing about the subject in ten chapters. It is a mine of information and country wisdom from a man brought up in a rural setting with access to people who knew and understood the outdoor life in times before industrialised farming and hyperactive lifestyles were the rule. A flavour of his style:

The green stem of the brake fern as it rises unrolls at the top, and when these coils appear in the spring the stag's horns begin to grow. Fern and antler start together; the fern is easily found for it is soon taller than the thin grass, but the stag conceals himself in the cover, and it is not easy to know what stage he has arrived. But his new antlers grow with the fern, and as that reaches a good height so his horns begin to overtop his ears.