Green Mansions

Green Mansions is an exotic romance about a traveler to the Guyana jungle of southeastern Venezuela and his encounter with a forest dwelling girl. Abel, a young man of wealth, fails at a revolution in Venezuela, near the end of the 19th century, and flees Caracas into the uncharted forests of Guayana. Surviving fever, failing at journal-keeping and gold hunting, he settles in an Indian village to waste away his life. After some exploring, Abel discovers an enchanting forest where he hears a strange bird-like singing. His Indian friends avoid the forest because of its evil spirit-protector, "the Daughter of the Didi." Persisting in the search, Abel finally finds Rima the Bird Girl. She has dark hair, a smock of spider webs, and can communicate with birds in an unknown tongue. When she shields a coral snake, Abel is bitten and falls unconscious.

William Henry Hudson (1841-1922) was an author, naturalist, and ornithologist. His best-known novel is "Green Mansions; A Romance of the Tropical Forest," and his best-known non-fiction work is "Far Away and Long Ago," which was made into a film. Hudson was a founding member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.