Feasting, Fowling and Feathers: A History of the Exploitation of Wild Birds

Poyser Monographs

by Michael Shrubb

The way wild birds have been exploited over the centuries forms the focus of this remarkable new book by Michael Shrubb. It looks at the use of birds as food, for feathers and skins, for eggs, as cage birds, as specimens and for hunting, focusing on Britain, northern Europe and the North Atlantic. Never before has a book brought the huge amount of information on these topics in the academic literature together under one cover.

Introductory chapters on what was taken, when, why and its impact are followed by a number of sections looking in detail at important bird groups. Along with discussions of broader themes of exploitation, the book is packed with amazing facts. For example, we learn

• why Grey Herons were so important in medieval falconry
• why the Black Death was good news for bustards
• why Napoleon is to blame for the scarcity of Quail in Britain today
• when tame plover stew was all the rage

The book concludes with discussions of the cage bird and plumage trades, both now consigned to the annals of history, in Britain at any rate. As well as summarising and condensing the material into a readable and entertaining account, Shrubb goes back to the original sources. This has allowed him to shed new and surprising light on the biogeography of a number of British birds.

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lee Broderick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and well written discussion of the exploitation of wild birds written from a conservation point of view. By that I mean not what we need to do to protect species but how human exploitation has effected wild bird populations in the past. The focus is principally on British birds, where sources are better, and builds on work such as The History of British Birds and Man and Wildfowl . It is not, however, a book on British birds and Continental European and North American examples are given where they are pertinent.

Six of the twelve chapters focus on roughly taxonomic groups of palaearctic birds, charting their particular histories of decline and fall. The other six are more general, offering overviews of such things as fowling methods, bird products, hunting restrictions and bird & egg collectors.

This is a book which is potentially of great value and interest to archaeologists and conservationists but it should also be an enjoyable read for anyone with a more than slight interest in natural history.