We have just had a slight ice storm so I have been inside reading Far Away and Long Ago. In it, there is a description of a devastating hail storm. Hundreds of birds were killed, as were many sheep and even large animals, as well as a child.
The passage (provided below) reminded me of a post I did back in May, 2021 (see: Hail Storms.) From it you will learn that it is predicted that we may begin to experience more, and more damaging, hail storms as a result of climate change. The storm below was witnessed by Hudson as a child, while living on the pampas in Argentina.
It was in sultry summer weather, and towards evening all of us boys
and girls went out for a ramble on the plain, and were about a quarter
of a mile from home when a blackness appeared in the south-west, and
began to cover the sky in that quarter so rapidly that, taking alarm,
we started homewards as fast as we could run. But the stupendous
slaty-black darkness, mixed with yellow clouds of dust, gained on us,
and before we got to the gate the terrified screams of wild birds
reached our ears, and glancing back we saw multitudes of gulls and
plover flying madly before the storm, trying to keep ahead of it. Then
a swarm of big dragon-flies came like a cloud over us, and was gone in
an instant, and just as we reached the gate the first big drops
splashed down in the form of liquid mud. We had hardly got indoors
before the tempest broke in its full fury, a blackness as of night, a
blended uproar of thunder and wind, blinding flashes of lightning, and
torrents of rain. Then as the first thick darkness began to pass away,
we saw that the air was white with falling hailstones of an
extraordinary size and appearance. They were big as fowls' eggs, but
not egg-shaped: they were flat, and about half-an-inch thick, and
being white, looked like little blocks or bricklets made of compressed
snow. The hail continued falling until the earth was white with them,
and in spite of their great size they were driven by the furious wind
into drifts two or three feet deep against the walls of the buildings.
It was evening and growing dark when the storm ended, but the light
next morning revealed the damage we had suffered. Pumpkins, gourds,
and water-melons were cut to pieces, and most of the vegetables,
including the Indian corn, were destroyed. The fruit trees, too, had
suffered greatly. Forty or fifty sheep had been killed outright, and
hundreds more were so much hurt that for days they went limping about
or appeared stupefied from blows on the head. Three of our heifers
were dead, and one horse--an old loved riding-horse with a history,
old Zango--the whole house was in grief at his death! ...
To return to the hailstones. The greatest destruction had fallen on
the wild birds. Before the storm immense numbers of golden plover had
appeared and were in large flocks on the plain. One of our native boys
rode in and offered to get a sackful of plover for the table, and
getting the sack he took me up on his horse behind him. A mile or so
from home we came upon scores of dead plover lying together where they
had been in close flocks, but my companion would not pick up a dead
bird. There were others running about with one wing broken, and these
he went after, leaving me to hold his horse, and catching them would
wring their necks and drop them in the sack. When he had collected two
or three dozen he remounted and we rode back.
Later that morning we heard of one human being, a boy of six, in one
of our poor neighbours' houses, who had lost his life in a curious
way. He was standing in the middle of the room, gazing out at the
falling hail, when a hailstone, cutting through the thatched roof, struck him on the head and killed him instantly.
(From: Far Away and Long Ago, (Eland Books), pp.73-76)
W.H. Hudson & The Western Libraries
The copy of Long Ago and Far Away I am reading is borrowed from the collections in the Western Libraries. Listed below are the books by Hudson found in those libraries in early 2023. There are almost fifty of them and there are some multiple copies of different editions held in various locations and the affiliated libraries. Given that the Western Libraries is getting rid of many books, I thought it worth providing a snapshot of what was a rather rich collection of printed books. I doubt if Hudson was taught about in many courses, but it is fitting that a university library has a surplus of them. Soon, these printed volumes are likely to be scarce on campus, but admittedly the students can read them in electronic form. As well, many of the copies were already in storage so it was unlikely that a curious student would ever have discovered them by browsing.
Hudson, W. H. A Hind in Richmond Park. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. A Hind in Richmond Park. J.M. Dent, 1922. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. A Shepherd's Life : Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. A Shepherd's Life : Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs. Methuen, 1926. (Archives)
Hudson, W. H. A Traveller in Little Things. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. A Traveller in Little Things. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1921. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. A Traveller in Little Things. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1923. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Adventures among Birds. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Adventures among Birds. E. P. Dutton, 1920. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Adventures among Birds. J.M. Dent, 1951. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927. (Huron)
Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. J.M. Dent & Sons, 1939. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. J.M. Dent & Sons. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Birds and Man. Alfred A. Knopf, 1920. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Birds and Man. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Birds and Man. Duckworth, 1927. (Archives)
Hudson, W. H. Birds in London. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Birds in London. Duckworth, 1928. (Archives)
Hudson, W. H. Birds in Town & Village. AMS Press, 1968.(Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Birds in Town & Village. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1919. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago : a Childhood in Argentina. Eland Books, 1982. (Weldon)
Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago : a History of My Early Life. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago : a History of My Early Life. E. P. Dutton & Co., 1923. (Huron)
Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago. 1941. (King’s)
Hudson, W. H., et al. Far Away and Long Ago : a History of My Early Life. Printed by G. Kraft Ltda., 1943. (Archives)
Hudson, W. H. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. 1945 (Huron)
Hudson, W. H. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. Modern Library, 1916. (Brescia)
Hudson, W. H. Idle Days in Patagonia. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Idle Days in Patagonia. J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1923. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. La Tierra purpuréa. Ministerio De Instrucción Pública y Previsión Social, 1965. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. Nature in Downland. Longmans, Green, 1906. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. The Book of a Naturalist. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. The Book of a Naturalist. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1924. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. The Land's End : a Naturalist's Impressions in West Cornwall. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. The Purple Land : Being the Narrative of One Richard Lamb's Adventures
in the Banda Orientál in South America, as Told by Himself. Creative Arts Book Co., 1979. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H. The Purple Land : Being the Narrative of One Richard Lamb's Adventures
in the Banda Orientál in South America, as Told by Himself. J. M. Dent & Sons, 1951. (Huron)
Hudson, W. H., and E. Mcknight Kauffer. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. Random House, 1944. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H., and E. Mcknight Kauffer. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. Random House, 1945. (Huron)
Hudson, W. H., Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. 1968 (Storage)
Hudson, W. H., and Edward Grey Grey of Fallodon. Dead Man's Plack, An Old Thorn,
& Miscellanea. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H., and Frank E. Beddard. British Birds. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H., and Morley Roberts. A Hind in Richmond Park. E.P. Dutton, 1923. (Storage)
Hudson, W. H., A Hind in Richmond Park.1968 (Storage)
Hudson, W. H., A Hind in Richmond Park. 1922 (Storage)
Hudson, W. H., and Morley Roberts. Men, Books and Birds. J. Cape, 1928. (Archives)
Hudson, W. H., and R. B. Cunninghame Graham. Birds of La Plata. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)
H Spenser, Edmund, and William Henry Hudson. Spenser's Faery Queene. Book I. Dent. (Storage)
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