Preface / Introduction BIRDS AND THE HUMAN MINDSCAPE Birds in the Writer's Imagination The Heron that Liked Crab-meat The Shrewd Old Gander Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Darzee The Cock-a-doodle-doo How the Hoopoe Got its Crest Delightful Distractions The Quail and the Hawk The Story of a Pair of Cranes Sher Singh Shoots a Crane In Praise of the Indian Crow Sparrows of Ahmad Nagar Fort Prison Nightjar Eggs Rescuing a Fledgeling Delightful Distractions Castaway with Birds Falling in Love Again 'Foreword' to The Wildlife of India SPORT, ENTERTAINMENT, AND FALCONRY Hunting and Sport Hunting at Bindukhera Bird Holocausts at Bharatpur Hunting with the Sheikhs Entertainment Parrot Bird-fighting and Pigeon-flying in Lucknow Peter and His Relations Partridge Fight in Delhi Falcons and Falconry Falcons of India Falconry Flights NATURALISTS ON THE PROWL The Common Birds of Bombay Bird Nesting The Great Himalayan Barbet The Spotted Forktail A South Indian Heronry Edible Birds' Nests The Common Hawk-Cuckoo or Brain-fever Bird The Flight of Eagles NATURAL HISTORY AND SCIENCE Birds of Hindustan Koel A Quail with a Spur Windpipes of Bustard and Crane Close Observations on Bustards The Nesting Cranes The Snow-wreath or Siberian Crane The Pink-headed Duck The Mute Swan Economic Ornithology Suggestions on How to Run a Bird Survey The Non-violent Scientific Study of Birds BIRDWATCHING AND BEYOND Stopping by the Woods on a Sunday Morning The Nesting of Baya A Visit to the Flamingos in the Great Rann of Kutch Green Parakeets in a Delhi Garden The Breeding Birds of Bharatpur Notes from Madras Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher An Evening at Pashan Lake, Poona A Day's Worth of Delhi Birds The Courtship of Storks Ornithology in Bandipur Some Observations on the Apparent Decrease in Numbers of the Blue Jay The Pair beside the Lake The Greater Adjutant Stork Cranes of Hanley Rare Bird of the Mountains The Haflong Phenomenon Misty Binoculars and Other Strategies for Survival among Birdwatchers PERSONALITIES AND CONTROVERSIES Remembering Sálim Ali Remembering Sálim Ali The EmPee Saar in Andhra Pradesh Salim Ali on Others Colonel Meinertzhagen Revealing Excerpts from the Diaries of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, D.S.O. Edward Pritchard Gee The Maharaja of Kutch Controversies Are Warblers Less Important Than Tigers? The Bird Ringing Controversy Common English Names of the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent Forest Owlet Thought to be Extinct is Spotted Anew after 113 Years Sources / Acknowledgements / Further Reading.