DURING a visit to the Parthenon in 1850, Florence Nightingale discovered local children playing with a little ball of fluff', which, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a young owl. Perhaps (quite likely) money changed hands in order that Nightingale could become the bird's new owner. Appropriately enough, bearing in mind the classical associations of owls, she named it Athena.
According to Florence's sister Parthenope, Athena very quickly became quite mannerly and took her meals regularly from her mistress's hand'. All didn't end well, however. As Florence and 38 other women volunteer nurses prepared to leave for the Crimea in 1854, the owl was 'put in a room by herself... [where] the cold and isolation were too much... [and] she fell down in a fit'. Distraught at Athena's unnecessary demise, Nightingale was reportedly heard to say: 'Poor little beastie, it was odd how much I loved you.'
An equal affection for wildlife as unlikely pets was apparent when the child Beatrix Potter kept, according to Mark Bryant, author of Casanova's Parrot, 'rabbits, frogs, lizards and hedgehogs'. Not wanting to be parted from them for even the short duration of a family holiday, 'Beatrix would... take her menagerie with her... [all] packed away in various boxes and hutches'.
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin October 05, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin October 05, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds