The Twelve Birds of ChristmasStephen MossLabel: Square PegDescription: Naturalist Stephen Moss digs beneath the surface of some of our most popular Christmas carols in an ornithological celebration of the Festive Season.Using the structure of the carol as a jumping off point he explores the place of twelve fascinating British birds in our history culture and landscape. Some of the birds are obvious there's the swan and of course the partridge. Other chapters are loose interpretations of a verse: for drummers drumming he delves into the woodpecker's distinctive drumming tap. Woodpeckers he explains have special padded skulls to mitigate against using its head like hammer drills. They carefully select dead trees for the most hollow sonorous sound.With brilliant anecdotes and insights Stephen Moss weaves history culture bird behaviour and folklore into a compelling narrative for each species tracing its fortunes over the past two centuries.'A superb naturalist and writer' Chris Packham author of Finger in the Sparkle Jar'Moss has carved out an enviable niche as a chronicler of the natural world' Daily Mail
