Product Description

Idle Days in Patagonia is a beautifully illustrated account of the fauna, and to a lesser extent the flora, of Patagonia. Far from being just a travelogue, Hudson combines his observations with elements of the adventure tale - the gentle naturalist being both shipwrecked and shot in the rich course of his travels. His passionate accounts of the world he finds are imbued with a literary air with such passages as a rhapsody on 'the quality of whiteness' that one 'finds only in solitude'. This book is part anthropological study, part travelogue and part adventure story in one, all completed in a readable literary style that sheds light on this dark corner of the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #352419 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 155 pages

About the Author
William Henry Hudson (1841-1922) was born near Quilmes, in the province of Buenos Aires and about ten miles from the Argentine capital. His childhood and youth were spent on his father's estancia on the Argentine pampas, from which he made many excursions into the remoter parts of the surrounding country. Hudson lived two lives, literally worlds apart: as a young adventurer in South America, and later as an English field naturalist. His boyhood was spent watching birds and snakes, and as a young man he travelled widely on horseback, visiting, Patagonia, amongst other countries, making collections of bird skins and writing accounts of bird life which won the admiration of leading naturalists, including Darwin. Two South American bird species bear his name.