The Curious Book of Birds

"The Curious Book of Birds" by Abbie Farwell Brown. The birds that it deals with are described in a vein of fancy, like Kipling's Creatures of the Jungle Book. They are more like fairy birds than those of the familiar bird-book variety; in fact, such birds as children conjure up for themselves -- birds that think and talk like people. The basis of the book is to be found in old stories and legends, from ancient sources, mostly European, but some of Oriental and African origin, and others from the American Indian folk-lore.