Springer, Nancy Patterson.

Walt Whitman relied heavily upon an ornithological reference book for most of the bird imagery in Leaves of Grass. Despite claims that Whitman was closely in tune with nature, he obviously made use of The Birds of Long Island by J. P. Giraud, published in 1844, in numerous passages over a period of about 20 years. Courtland Y. White first noticed Whitman's dependence upon this text in 1944. This study goes beyond White's findings, surveys the importance of accuracy in Whitman's details about birds, and examines the poet's relationship with the naturalist John Burroughs, whose influence is seen in at least one major poem.