India has been aptly recognized as a melting pot, displaying a large degree of cultural diversity. This diversity has also manifested in tolerance and sensitivity towards nature. The omnipresence of birds, their distribution across vast zoogeographic zones, their dazzling hues and acoustic skills make them special. Very often, we see them as protagonists in literary works. Under such circumstances and keeping in mind the rich literary traditions of India, it is evident that selecting a set of the most appropriate and representative essays on birds must have been a difficult task. The meticulously selected and intensively researched essays in this collection are broadly based on birds but also throw light on human society in existence at that period of time. The oldest essays represented here are obtained from the Panchatantra in which birds and beasts are anthropomorphic beings and are often used to instill moral values.
On the other hand, essays from the contemporary era deal primarily with scientific techniques devised to conserve avian diversity and to educate the masses on their importance for human survival. ‘Are warblers less important than tigers’, is one such popularly appreciated scientific essay by Madhusudan Katti that clearly reflects the need to incite utilitarian ideologies to help conserve a species.