Definition: The country: A damp sort of place where all sorts of birds fly about uncooked (1949 Joseph Wood Krutch)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The October 2012 Quote . . . Unquote Newsletter of Nigel Rees has a
fun statement that is sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde:

[Begin excerpt]
'Nature is where the birds fly around uncooked' - Anon. The common
attribution to Oscar Wilde seems to be without foundation. (Q1897)
[End excerpt]

Here is a version in a 1949 book by Joseph Wood Krutch who credited a
"London club man". This man perhaps was a fictive satirical figure.

Cite: 1970 (Copyright 1949), The Twelve Seasons: A Perpetual Calendar
for the Country by Joseph Wood Krutch, Chapter: June: Spring Rain,
Quote Page 33 and 34, [Reprint of 1949 edition by arrangement with
William Morrow & Co.]  Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, New York.
(Verified on paper)

[Begin excerpt]
Children can be taken occasionally to the country to see what the sun
looks like as they are taken now to see a hill or a mountain. Probably
many of them will not want to go anyway, for the country will be to
them only what it was to the London club man: "A damp sort of place
where all sorts of birds fly about uncooked."
[End excerpt]

Also in 1949 the phrase was distributed widely via the Reader's Digest:

Cite: 1949 August, Reader's Digest, Definitions with a Difference,
Quote Page 108, The Reader’s Digest Association. (Verified on paper)

[Begin excerpt]
London clubman's definition of the country: A damp sort of place where
all sorts of birds fly about uncooked.
    — Joseph Wood Krutch, The Twelve Seasons (Sloane)
[End excerpt]

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org