Observer extraordinaire

A BIRD’S EYE VIEW: THE COLLECTED ESSAYS AND SHORTER WRITINGS OF SALIM ALI (2 vols.)
Edited by Tara Gandhi
Permanent Black, Rs 1,495

For laymen, as Tara Gandhi points out in her comprehensive introduction to this anthology of his shorter writings, the name of Salim Ali has become synonymous with the birds of India. (This reviewer can still remember her first copy of his bestseller — it has never been out of print — The Book of Indian Birds, and lugging along the large single volume of illustrations from his magnum opus, with Dillon Ripley, on birding trips.) But, as she also shows, for the scientific community, his work helped to establish ornithology as a serious discipline.

By the 19th century, botany and entomology were well-established and taught in universities in India because of their obvious relevance to agriculture and medicine. But ornithology was treated as the spare-time avocation of British administrators and amateur enthusiasts — Allan Octavian Hume, for instance, found time, during his various labours, to observe birds, make a collection of eggs, and edit an ornithological journal, Stray Feathers. In the course of a long life, spent almost till its end on work and study, Salim Ali took the study “of the living bird in its relationship with its natural environment” from the museum to the field. Under his stewardship, the Bombay Natural History Society became a premier centre of conservation, education and research. He can thus be considered one of the founders of modern conservation biology in India.

In addition to his indefatigable labours, Salim Ali was a prolific writer, who took as much care over his prose as over his field notes. Most of his books were written for the lay public, and his output of articles was vast. He took care to make his writing as attractive and as readable for the scientist as for the lay reader (or audience in case of his talks), going over his drafts with great care. (One of the reasons why The Book of Indian Birds has been successful is its simple yet lucid style.) Tara Gandhi admits in the Preface that she has not “dared” to edit the text, since that would be “sacrilegious” — he was “a perfectionist who would not have allowed the slightest error to mar his written work.” (One of his earliest essays on the weaver bird was included in an anthology called Indian Masters of English for its prose style!)

It must be admitted that some of the pieces collected here might still be hard going for the uninitiated, and may be enjoyed only by those with a professional interest — the bird surveys, or the detailed observations of the Finn’s Baya for example. However, even a general reader will find much to learn from his essays on “Mystery Birds of India”, on vanished species — from the Jerdon’s Courser and Forest Spotted Owlet (both since rediscovered), to the Pink Headed Duck (still officially extinct). Or the 1977 paper for the Food and Agricultural Organization on “The Role of Birds in Agriculture and Forestry”, where he warned of the harmful consequences of drastic measures to control birds deemed ‘pests’ without proper investigation of their role in the overall ecology — and gave the now famous example of the eradication of sparrows in China. (In the context of the precipitous drop in vulture population in India, this is a salutary article, which deserves to be widely disseminated.)

Another series of articles he did on the Mughal emperors’ interest in nature can be read and enjoyed by all. There are also delights such as the text of the Maulana Azad Memorial lecture, 1978, delivered to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations: “Bird Study in India: its History and its Importance.” Who but Salim Ali could begin a talk to such an august body by recalling a humorous vignette of the great Maulana’s relationship with the sparrows which shared his prison cell during his long incarceration during the Quit India movement? Even a report like “Flamingo City Revisited” has a touch of his puckish humour — describing an uncomfortable camel ride over the Rann of Kutch, he wrote, “One had the curious feeling of suddenly being transported from the ship of the desert to a ship on the ocean!”

Tara Gandhi is to be congratulated on bringing out this comprehensive compilation of his varied writings, talks and interviews, and she makes light of what must have been a towering task — while most of his writings were published by the BNHS, she has assiduously trawled through other (often obscure) journals, newspapers and magazines. Many of his writings would have mouldered in some archive without her efforts. A former student of Ali, she gives us an affectionate portrait of the great man at work, while setting his work in the context of the development of scientific ornithology and conservation. She has organized this vast and diverse body of work into manageable sections, each of which has a short introduction. She modestly admits that while every effort has been made to include his better-known essays like “Flower-Birds and Bird Flowers in India”, or “Economic Ornithology in India”, this cannot be seen as the final comprehensive collection, as there may be still undiscovered articles and talks.

It remains to be seen whether other nuggets will still be unearthed. What Tara Gandhi has managed to put together, however, brings out the breadth and depth of Salim Ali’s knowledge and interests, his extraordinary powers of empirical observation, as well as his sheer enthusiasm for his life’s work. As Gandhi points out, a clear ecological strain runs through most of his writings, yet what comes through is his no-nonsense, unsentimental approach to conservation. In an interview (reproduced here), he refused to give “lofty sermons on how bad hunting is”, admitted that he had shot birds to get specimens and bluntly declared that the real threat to wildlife is not hunting, but habitat destruction because of “foolish notions of development and progress”. These views are reiterated in two extracts from his autobiography, The Fall of a Sparrow (also reproduced here).

While utterly rational and pragmatic in his outlook, Salim Ali was aware that ornithology was not about just dry facts and scientific reports. As he wrote in the conclusion to his 1977 article, “Birds Among People”, “By the gorgeousness of their plumage, the sweetness of their songs and the vivacity of their movements, birds typify Life and Beauty. Verily they are among the important trifles that supplement bread in the sustenance of man and in making his living worthwhile.”

Salim Ali died in 1987. This collection will prove handy for those who need to refer to his writings for professional reasons. For the fledgling naturalist, it is a good introduction to his life and work, which should be read along with his autobiography. But it can also provide enjoyment to the enthusiastic amateur or the armchair birder — from whose clutches he almost single-handedly did so much to free professional ornithology.