Posted by Astronomer_Guy on December 10, 2002 at 21:52:20 from 212.77.0.2 user Astronomer_Guy.
In Reply to: Egg-collecting posted by Duncan on November 18, 2002 at 10:40:26:
Sorry I'm about three weeks late on this thread... I've spent the evening reading old threads here (rather than working) and got inspired.
I am sorry to say I don't have the specific reference handy, but I distinctly remember one of the biographies of C. S. Lewis mentioning that an early draft of _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ had one of the children be an active bird-egg collector, the sort of thing Lewis had done as a child in turn-of-the-century Ireland. He was told in no uncertain terms (I believe, by his publisher) that this had to go; egg collecting was no longer popular, due to the popularity of the Arthur Ransome books. This would have been in the late 1940's.
Anyone with access to a library might be able to check on this reference better than I can (I'm in Italy).