A book for English majors who also happen to like birds. It's not really a book "about" birds. It's about humans and their interactions with/ impressions of/ feelings about birds, as recorded across literary history in the form of folk tales, poetry, artwork, hearsay, pseudo-science and even the occasional reliable observation (although those are mostly supplied by Gibson himself). As with much of our relationship with the natural world (at least until very recently), much of the material is infused with our destructive, dismissive attitude toward birds as something to be killed for fun (and occasionally food) or to be caged or to be feared as alien. So it's obviously depressing on that score. Many items are included that seem totally unrelated to birds other than the briefest mention. Much of the poetry was gibberish to me, so mired in metaphor without context clues as to be meaningless, but the English majors I mentioned may get something out of it. It is certainly a pretty book, with artwork selected from the same broad historical range as the writings. 2-1/2 stars.