The parrot of Long John Silver in Stevenson’s Treasure Island…the immortal crows of grandma’s stories…the communication satellite, named the Early Bird, launched by the U.S….the sparrow on the dressing table widely flying at its own image in the mirror…the ‘birds’ in Wodehouse’s novels…the narration of the story of kadambari by a parrot…: such are the quick flashes that pass through one’s mind on seeing the title ‘Birds of India’. Really where does their importance lie? The more we think of it, the more we are captivated by their place in our lives.  

A little more thinking makes us realize how vast and enchanting is the world of Indian birds. Those who have been to rural India and some of the by-lanes of the towns, must have noticed that bird-fighting constitutes an interesting pastime of poor people. It is the game-cock that dominates the rural scene. It is said that this species is the derivation from the Indian jungle fowl and it’s majesty is comparable to the game-cock of Europe and also Latin America.

 On some festive occasions this sport constitutes an important pastime of the rural people. Next, the poor , mostly among Muslims, in North Indian towns domesticate partridges for sport. Also, in some places male bulbuls are trained to fight . And we hear in history that falcon flights were an important pastime , particularly in the Mughal period. Both Akbar and Jahangir appear to be very fond of this sport. There is even a story that as the prince of Kangra refused to part with his falcon, when he visited the Mughal court during the days of Akbar, he was beheaded and his kingdom was annexed by Jahangir When he became the emperor. Apart from the falcon , pigeons were also used . But all these bird-sport are fast disappearing because of the great social dissolvent , the cinema.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Our country being very ancient, birds have inspired the imagination of people and we are told from our childhood how birds saved the lives of people in epics, myths and folklore. Jatayu fought with Ravana when he carried away sits, and although wounded mortally, lingered on to Convey the information to Lord Rama. A good number of birds figure as the vahanas of gods and goddesses: garuda : ( the eagle) for Vishnu , swan for saraswati, peacock for Kartikey or shubhramanya. Some birds figure in some religious rituals of Hindus . When a pious Hindu performs a shraddha ceremony, the offering must be consumed by the crows. If not , dead are supposed to be great and disconcerting. Pious people from all over India go to Haridwar to perform the  sraddha ceremony. 

More interesting are the two famous pilgrimage centres of Pakshi Theertham in Southern India and Amarnath in Kashmir. When the pujari offers the Prasad at the former place, every afternoon , two Brahminy kites come and accept it. The surprising thing about them is that no one knows from where they come, and why always a single pair Here one is reminded of the FireBird Ballet of Igor Stravinsky. And at Amarnath two doves appear every year when the festival is held. Here too, a single pair appears and it is a wonder how they survive at such a high altitude.

WHAT MAKES INDIAN BIRDS UNIQUE

What made Indian Birds different from other countries is that, the more we think over our Indian birds, the more we recognize their importance. At first it might sound odd, but they have a part in the economic field too. Field sparrows are of great benefit to the farmers because they eat the insects which damage crops. When the peacock starts dancing, it is a sure sign that the monsoon is round the corner — a more reliable weather pundit than our meteorologist whose predictions of fine weather ends in a thunderstorm. And the peacocks live on snakes and lizards. More is the Importance of the fowl which is a domesticated version of jungle fowl. Recently, poultry farming has captivated the imagination of the lower strata of people in India. The earning of poultry farmers are quite substantial in supplementing their meagre budgets. The more this is practised , the greater is the chance for providing nutritious diet to the ill- nourished people of India.

Further, whoever has meandered through the fields and the slushy foot paths of rural India must have noticed a great number of rare colourful birds. Our specialists say that some of them are migratory birds- without any valid passports and visas -like the wild duck, Siberian crane, Arctic tern. Flamingo, goose and a few others. Duck shooting is a good pastime for the trigger happy gentleman from the towns. Some of these birds are dangerous carriers of germs. At one time some ducks that came to India carried the radio -active fall-out caused by the Russian atomic tests in the Arctic region.

Last but not least is the place of birds in literature and the arts. A handful of metaphors are derived from birds. Tagore often refers to the songs of birds. In the relief sculptures on Indian temples the motif of the birds is popular. Paintings of birds as such began from the time of the Mughals and one Mansur is regarded as a great painter of birds. Thus, although the ‘birds of India’ is apparently so trivial , it is of great interest. When we come to think of it , without birds insects multiply. Without the crops , there would be no animals and human livelihoods. For that matters, without the insects there will be no birds. We are living in a sort of a house that Jack built.