Birds and Poultry

Abstract

Man has had a complicated relationship with birds since his origin. The ability to fly has been regarded as divine, birds being agents and messengers of sky-dwelling gods. The times and directions of flight have also had religious significance, and there is inexplicable divine inference in bird entrails. Navigational genius and extrasensory perception in birds has been used by man throughout the ages, from early watchdog geese to modern racing of pigeons, and most successful weather prophets rely on bird movements. In more practical terms, birds have been a vital source of protein in hunting and it has long been common to retain clipped birds as reserve food. In primitive nomadic societies, young birds and eggs were frequently the last suppers of the old and weak, who could no longer catch game or find suitable vegetation. More recently, the sensitivity of birds has been used for detection, as for example of methane gas in mines but also of slight sound waves. The sensitivity to pollution is of value under modern conditions and birds frequently indicate dangerous levels.