Part 2 Contents

6 The Fashion Trade And 4

6:1 Why Do Humans Wear Hats? 4

6:2 A Lesson From The Past 5

6:3 A Short History Of Hats 9

6:4 The Call For Conservation 11

6:5 Modern Hats 13

6:6 Louis Mariette Profile 15

6:7 Philip Treacy Profile 17

6:8 As Dead As A Dodo! 20

7 Conservation And Zoos 26

7:1 What Zoos Do 26

7:2 Why Zoos Are Important 27

7:3 How Zoos Are Organized 29

7:4 What The Future Holds 30

7:5 How Does Lotherton Bird Garden help to save threatened species? 40

7:6 What You Can Do To Save The Planet 47 8 The Power Of Inspiration 56

8:1 Birds As Symbols Of Power And Freedom 56

8:2 Birds In Religion 60

8:3 Birds In Myths And Legends 62

8:4 Birds In Art And Sculpture 65

8:5 Jewelled Birds 68

8:6 Fabric Designs Inspired By Birds 69

The front page photo is of Nike of Samothrace, the third century BC marble sculpture of the Greek Goddess Nike. Since 1884 it has stood at the top of one of the magnificent staircases in the Louvre and is one of the most well known sculptures in the world.

2 8 The Power of Inspiration 8:1 Birds As Symbols of Power and Freedom

Birds have been used by humans for centuries as symbols of clans and nationalities, freedom, peace, war, spirituality, power and creativity. The fact that almost every country in the world has a “National Bird” as an emblem, says something profound about the importance of birds in our universal “common language” of identity.

This picture shows “The Holy Trinity” an Orthodox wall painted icon at the ceiling of the entrance (πρόστωον) Vatopedion Monastery at Agion Oros or Mount Athos in Greece. The dove at the top of the painting represents the Holy Spirit, sitting between Jesus and God.

According to the biblical story, a dove was released by Noah after the flood in order to find land; it came back carrying an olive branch in its beak, telling Noah that, somewhere, there was land. A dove with an olive branch has since come to symbolize peace.

In Lithuania the white stork (gandras) is usually felt to be the national bird. Lithuanians believe that storks bring harmony to the families on whose property they nest; they have also kept up the tradition of telling their children that storks bring babies. Stork Day is celebrated on March 25 with various traditions: gifts for children, attributed to the storks, such as fruits, chocolates, pencils, and dyed , are hung on tree branches and fences; snakes are caught, killed and buried under the doorstep; straw fires are lit. Notably, Lithuania is a beneficial and important habitat for these birds: it has the highest known nesting density in the world.

In nearby Estonia, the Barn Swallow is the National Bird. Rumania has the White Pelican as its symbol.

In Zimbabwe the stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird is a national emblem. It appears on the national flags and coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins (shown on the left). It probably represents the Bateleur Eagle. The famous soapstone bird carvings stood on walls and monoliths of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe built starting in the 11th century by the ancestors of the Shona people. The ruins, which gave their name to modern Zimbabwe, cover some 1,800 acres (7.3 km²) and are the largest ancient stone structure in Zimbabwe. 3

In Jamaica, The Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), also known as the Doctor Bird, is the national bird of Jamaica, where it is the most abundant and widespread member of the hummingbird family. The next- to-outermost tail feathers of the male are 15 to 18 cm (6-7 in) long, far longer than its bearer's body. Trailing behind the flying hummingbird like thin black streamers, these feathers make a humming sound. Females lack the elongated rectrices and are largely white below. These birds are nectar feeders and have an extendable tongue to help sip the high energy food. They also catch small in flight.

The kiwi as a symbol first appeared in the late 19th century in New Zealand regimental badges. It appeared on the badges of the South Canterbury Battalion in 1886 and the Hastings Rifle Volunteers the following year. In 1906, Kiwi Shoe Polish began to be sold in the UK and the USA and soon everyone had heard of the Kiwi and knew what it looked like.

Troops from New Zealand regiments were called “Kiwis” during the First World War and a giant kiwi, (now known as the Bulford Kiwi), was carved on a chalk hill above Bulford Camp in England. Today, just about any New Zealanders overseas and at home are commonly known as Kiwis. The kiwi has since become the most well-known national symbol for New Zealand, and kiwis are prominent in the coat of arms, crests and badges of many New Zealand cities, clubs and organisations.

India has the Peacock as a national symbol. Further west, Myanmar or Burma has the Green Pea Fowl and Japan has the Green Pheasant.

A Roman Aquila or eagle standard was carried at the head of each Roman legion. This symbolic bird of prey allegedly put fear into the hearts of the enemy and showed the strength of the Roman Army to crush all opposition. Today, the Golden Eagle is Mexico’s national symbol.

The flag of Kazakhstan has an eagle with spread wings supporting a sun symbol.

The Golden Eagle was also the national bird of Germany and Austria in continuation of the Holy Roman Empire, more than any species. The eagle is very much connected to the Saladin Golden Eagle, currently used as the coat of arms of Egypt, Iraq and Palestine and it was previously used by Libya and Yemen.

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The Prussian Standard had a black eagle as it’s centrepiece.

In a later development the Nazis adopted the eagle (much as Napoleon did two centuries previously) as a symbol of fascist power in Germany.

The Bald Eagle is the national Symbol of the United States of America. Unofficially, many Americans believe that the Turkey should be their national bird instead of the Eagle.

The Magpie Robin is the National Bird of Bangladesh, where it is common and known as the Doyel or Doel: দােল). Magpie Robins were widely kept as cage birds for their singing abilities and for fighting in India in the past. They continue to be in the pet trade in parts of Southeast Asia.

The Andean Condor is a national symbol of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It is the national bird of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. It plays an important role in the folklore and mythology of the Andean regions, and has been represented in Andean art from c. 2500 BCE onward. They are a part of indigenous Andean religions.

In Andean mythology, the Andean Condor was associated with the sun deity and was believed to be the ruler of the upper world. The Andean Condor is considered a symbol of power and health by many Andean cultures, and it was believed that the bones and organs of the Andean Condor possessed medicinal powers, sometimes leading to the hunting and killing of condors to obtain their bones and organs.

The Blue Rock is a species of . This breeds in Southern Europe and northwest Africa, and from central Asia to northern China and Malaysia. The male Blue sings a clear, melodious call that is similar to but louder than the call of the Rock Thrush.

The Blue Rock Thrush is Malta’s national bird and is shown on the Lm1 coins that were part of the previous currency of the country. It is ironic that Malta’s entry into the EU has

5 not been followed (as promised) by a long-called for ban on hunting, shooting and trapping wild birds – including the Blue Rock Thrush, which is now very rare on the island. The amount of shooting on the island has risen in the past five years and shows no signs of being controlled.

BirdLife International welcomed the decision taken in 2007 by the European Commission to open a legal infringement procedure against the Maltese government for allowing the spring hunting of European Turtle-doves and Common Quails. This infringement of the Birds Directive has taken place annually in Malta since it joined the European Union in 2004. During their exhausting return journey from Africa to their European breeding grounds, many migratory birds use Malta as an important resting place and stepping stone as they cross the Mediterranean. Despite special protection under EU law, Maltese hunters are reported to kill thousands of quails, doves and other rare birds every spring. The continued hunting season not only breaches EU law, but also opens a loophole for the illegal hunting of many other, often threatened, species such as herons and birds of prey.

In late 2009, according to the group International Rescue, “it can be said that there has been no improvement in respect of illegal killing of birds on Malta. As soon as migration begins or resumes, protected species are shot at all over the island and the government looks the other way". Antigua has the Magnificent Frigate Bird as a national symbol. The male of this aggressive hawk-like seabird has a large red inflatable pouch on it’s upper chest which it uses to display to females. Frigatebirds feed mainly on fish, but they also use more underhand tactics to get their food. Often they will grab hold of a bird in flight that has been fishing and tumble down towards the sea, forcing the smaller victim to regurgitate a hard-won meal.

The Bahamas has the Caribbean Flamingo. Bhutan has the Raven, Bolivia and Ecuador both have the Andean Condor and Botswana has two birds, the Cattle Egret and the Lilac- Breasted Roller as national symbols.

France has the Cockerel as a symbol, Sweden has the Blackbird, whilst closer to home, here in the UK, we have the Robin.

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8:2 Birds In Religion

Shamanism is recognised as one of the oldest “religions” in the world and pre-dates Christianity by many thousands of years. The Shaman or Medicine Man or Woman is a figure set apart in tribal society, who journeys to the upper and lower worlds in a trance state, to search for a cure for his patient.

They are often shown in flight as a bird. Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world show a bird on a stick as a symbolic representation of the soul in ecstatic flight away from the body.

Shamans dress themselves in clothes made from animal and bird skins, decorated with claws, feathers, fur and other natural objects and cultivate a close connection to and birds or plants that have special significance for them.

Shamans work with the spirits of these creatures, often taking on their characteristics and using their particular attributes and skills to achieve the knowledge that can be used to heal a person. In turn the shaman reveres that animal or bird, protecting it from hunters or poachers. Shamanism is a philosophy that is rooted in a closeness and harmony with nature and is very much a “two-way” process of seeking knowledge from the natural world, often at great personal risk and honouring, revering and protecting that world, managing its resources to maintain all forms of life as being entwined and equal to that of human life.

Ba was a human-headed bird in Ancient Egypt who represented the soul of a dead person. A soul was thought to consist of several parts. Egyptian religion had many gods and goddesses, often representing different aspects of the natural world and its effect on humans. There was a cat goddess – called Bast – and a crocodile god, a hippopotamus god and a baboon god. Horus was the hawk-headed god, son of Osiris, chief of all the gods. Horus was one of the oldest and most revered deities in Egyptian religion and was worshipped from the earliest to the latest dynasties. He was God of the Sky and God of War.

An image of The Eye of Horus is seen painted on boats all over Greece and the Middle East as a talisman of protection against storms. It is said to avert the “evil eye” and protect against misfortune.

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In Ancient Rome, the “augur” was a priest who interpreted the will of the Gods by studying the flight of birds. This was known as "taking the auspices.” The flight, direction, height, flocking behaviour and size of the flock would all be taken into account before an “auspicious” statement was made.

In the Christian Bible, God selected Noah and commanded him to build an ark to save himself, his family and every species of animal and bird on the planet. When the ark was finished, "all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened". It rained for 40 days and 40 nights and the water rose for 150 days. All the high mountains were covered.

The ark came to rest on the mountains and the water receded for another 150 days. Noah opened the ark. He sent out a raven and then a dove to see if the flood waters had gone. When Noah and the animals left the ark, he offered a sacrifice to God, and God put a rainbow in the sky as a sign that he would never again destroy the Earth by water.

In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Jesus prophesied the betrayal by Peter: "Jesus answered, 'I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.'"(Luke 22:34) Thus it happened (Luke 22:61) and Peter cried bitterly. This made the cockerel a symbol for both vigilance and betrayal. In many central European folk tales, the Devil is believed to flee at the first crowing of a cockerel.

In Norse religion, two Ravens called Huginn – meaning “thought” and Miuninn – meaning “memory”, whispered news from around the world into the ears of Odin, the most powerful Norse God. Norse people lived very closely with nature and gave animals they saw around them magical powers or attributes, from ravens and wolves to whales. They were also aware of “special” powerful places, like waterfalls, wells, whirlpools and mountains.

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Birds often represent messengers from the Gods or as priests and leaders for a deity. On Easter Island, Make’ Make was the creator God of humanity, god of fertility and the chief god of the Tangata manu bird-man cult.

The Island held an annual race to find the first Sooty Tern’s from a nearby island, braving a swim through sea populated with sharks and a climb up and down steep cliffs. The winner and his family held a great deal of power for the rest of the year.

8:3 Birds in Myths and Legends According to the librarian at the Library of Alexandria, Apollonius of Rhodes, Jason’s ship the Argo had a figurehead made of oak that came from the sacred grove at Dodona in western Greece. Allegedly the figurehead could speak the language of birds.

The Thunderbird – A Native American Legend.

A crypto zoologist is someone who looks for evidence of apparently impossible or unlikely creatures and gathers evidence and witness statements. Some even mount expeditions to look for creatures like the Yeti and Big Foot.

Some crypto zoologists have decided that the myth or legend of the Thunderbird could be real and based on sightings of a large bird with enormous wingspan.

In Persian mythology, an enormous mythical bird of prey called a Roc was so large that it was reputed to be able to carry off and devour elephants.

The Teratorn – Argentavis magnificens – had a wingspan of about 7 m (21 feet) and was capable of flight. Even larger, was Quetzalcoatlus northropi, which lived in the Cretaceous era and had a wingspan of about 12 meters or 39 feet. Quetzal northropi was a pterosaur and there is no evidence of them having feathers in pre- history. However, the thunderbird's identity as a pterosaur is unlikely because the thunderbird is invariably shown having feathers. A pterosaur's wings were made of a skin membrane stretched over skeletal fingers.

Confusingly, Quetzalcoatlus northropi is named after Quetzal Coatl the “Feathered Serpent” God of South American Aztecs and Maya tribes, shown here on the right.

9 The Teratorn was the ancestor of today’s Vultures and Condors and survived until at least 6,000 years ago. Over 100 specimens have been recovered from the La Brea tar pits in California. In mythology the Thunderbird was associated with storms, stirring up winds, thunder and lightening with their beating wings.

Also in Native American culture, the Raven was a trickster and cult hero figure who was credited with creating the earth. A north- west coast story tells of how Raven created the Earth.

Raven lived in the land of spirits (called Bird Land) a place that existed before our world. Raven got bored and decided to fly off. He carried a stone in his beak. After a while he got tired and dropped the stone, which fell into the sea and got bigger and bigger until it made all the land we live on.

This story sounds far fetched, but may well have elements of the truth in it. Ravens, like many in the corvid family (ravens, crows, rooks, jackdaws, choughs, jays, jackdaws, magpies, nutcrackers and treepies) are intelligent tool-users and can often be seen in the wild gripping sticks in their beaks to pick out insects from logs. Mostly, young birds learn this technique from older, more experienced birds in their flock, but new evidence suggests that the birds have the innate intelligence to improvise the right tool for the job, without being shown how. A laboratory crow named "Betty" created a hooked tool from a piece of wire with no suggestion or help.

Crows in Japan have been filmed cracking hard-shelled nuts by dropping them onto crosswalks and waiting for them to be run over and crushed by passing cars. They retrieve the edible bits when the cars stop at the lights.

In 2004 I watched a Hooded Crow sit for some minutes on a telephone wire running over a coastal road on the Greek island of Kefalonia. It had something round in its beak, which looked like a walnut. When a car approached, the crow lobbed the item down onto the road, and then flew after it as soon as the car had passed by, to pick up the various pieces. After eating the road-killed nut, it flew off to a nearby café. A few minutes later it came back to the same spot and repeated the whole performance with a second nut.

The Gandaberunda (also known as the Berunda) is a double-

10 headed bird of Hindu mythology. The creature was thought to possess magical strength. It is used as the official emblem of the Karnataka government. This image is from the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel in Mysore, India.

The Griffin was supposed to have the body of a lion and the head and wings of an Eagle. The lion has always been called “the king of beasts” and the eagle “the king of birds”, so the griffin – a combined beast - was thought to have the power and majesty of both animals. Griffins generally are attributed with guarding gold treasure, but in antiquity they signified a symbol of divine power and guardianship. The eggs of the griffin were brought back to Europe from African traders. Today they have been identified as ostrich eggs. Allegedly only female griffins had wings.

Harpies are Greek winged death spirits. The name comes from the ancient Greek word harpazein (ἅρπάζειν) which means "to snatch" and much of their power comes from their connection to the winds.

The Phoenix – or Firebird – had golden and blue or green plumage and was believed to live for up to a thousand years. Sensing the end of its life, it built a nest, which it them ignited, apparently destroying both nest and bird. From the ashes, a new, fully fledged phoenix or in some stories an egg emerges and the whole lifespan begins again.

Well known today from the popular Harry Potter books and film series, the original has been shown in “Bestiaries” since Greek times. A Bestiary is an illustrated book of animals, many of which later proved to be non-existent, or showed living animals illustrated by people who had never seen the real thing, but had heard a description second or third-hand from early travellers.

The Sphinx was known from Persian times as the demon of destruction and bad luck. It had the body of a lion, wings and the head of a woman. The word comes from the Greek σφίγγω (sphíngō) which means to strangle.

11 Lions kill their prey by attacking the throat and crushing the windpipe to suffocate the victim.

The Sphinx guards the temples of Egypt – including the Pyramid complex at Giza and apparently used to halt travelers and would not let them pass until they had answered her riddle. If they failed or gave an incorrect answer, she killed and ate them. This is what she asked.

“Which creature walks on four legs in the morning? Walks on two legs at noon, Walks on three legs in the evening, And the more legs it has, the weaker it is?”

See if you can answer this oldest recorded riddle.

8:4 Birds in Art and Sculpture

The extended wings of the Vulture Goddess Nekhbet, who was considered the protector of the pharaoh, royalty and Egypt, always shown with her wings extended. They referred to the bird as the Mother of Mothers, who hath existed from the Beginning and creator of the world. who protects the soul of the pharaoh and his body in the sarcophagus. On the left is a pectoral or breastplate found in the tomb of Amenemhat III and on the right, an Egyptian vulture.

The Egyptian Vulture uses small rocks to crack thick- shelled ostrich eggs by lifting a stone with its beak and hitting the egg with a strong swing of its head and neck. Presumably, this is a culturally learned behaviour, by observing others in the social group. The birds are actually white, but “paint” themselves with soil, which is often tinged with red ochre, effectively turning themselves pale orange buff. They are inquisitive and highly intelligent birds. In India, their decline is attributable to the widespread use of the NSAID Diclofenac in veterinary medicine, which enters the food chain of the species; the drug is extremely poisonous to vultures. Consequently, this species was moved from Least Concern to Endangered status in the 2007 IUCN Red List.

Thoth, the Ibis-Headed God is often represented as the reckoner of times and seasons by a lunar disk sitting in a crescent moon being placed on top of his head. When not depicted in this common form, he sometimes takes the form of the ibis or a baboon.

12 The Sacred Ibis breeds in sub-Saharan Africa, southeastern Iraq, and formerly in Egypt, where it was venerated and often mummified as a symbol of the god Thoth.

Venerated and often mummified by Ancient Egyptians, the Ibis was according to Herodotus and Pliny the Elder also invoked against incursions of serpents. It was also said that the flies that brought pestilence died immediately after propitiatory sacrifices of this bird.

Leda and the Swan is a motif from Greek mythology, in which Zeus seduces Leda whilst in the form of a swan.

According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuses, children of Zeus while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children by her husband, the King of Sparta. The story and its symbolism has inspired a number of famous pieces of art and sculpture. Thanks to Classical Greek literature it was a well-known myth through the Middle Ages in Europe. This version is a copy by Cesare Sesto after a lost original by Michelangelo.

Vasiliy Vasilyevich painted The Apothiosis of War in 1871 and this bleak viewpoint shows how crows benefit from mankinds folly.

This ancient image from Delphi is of Apollo pouring a libation (an offering to the Gods) in the presence of a rook, crow or raven.

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J. J. Audubon’s Birds of America John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter and artist. He painted, catalogued, and described the birds of North America in a format which was far superior to any previous artist. This monumental work consists of 435 hand-colored, life-size prints of 497 bird species, made from engraved copper plates of various sizes depending on the size of the image. They were printed on sheets measuring about 39 by 26 inches (660 mm). The work contains just over 700 North American bird species. The pages were organized for artistic effect and contrasting interest, as if the reader were taking a visual tour. (Some critics thought he should have organized the plates in Linnaean order as befitting a "serious" ornithological treatise.)

The cost of printing the entire work was $115,640 (over $2,000,000 today), paid for from advance subscriptions, exhibitions, oil painting commissions, and animal skins, which Audubon hunted and sold. Audubon's great work was a remarkable accomplishment. It took more than 14 years of field observations and drawings, plus his single-handed management and promotion of the project to make it a success.

Colourists applied each colour in assembly-line fashion (over fifty were hired for the work). The original edition was engraved in aquatint by Robert Havell, Jr., who took over the task after the first ten plates engraved by W. H. Lizars were deemed inadequate. Known as the Double Elephant folio, it is often regarded as the greatest picture book ever produced and the finest aquatint work in history.

In both Greek and Roman mythology the Goddess Athena or Minerva in Roman times, was represented as an owl with big staring eyes. It represents wisdom and vigilance because of the owl’s ability to see in the dark.

The “Savannah Bird Girl” statue was sculpted in 1936 by Sylvia Shaw Judson. Originally commissioned for a garden in Massachusetts, four bronze statues were cast from the mould – one bought and installed for a family plot in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah Georgia.

14 For 48 years it remained relatively unknown piece of art. Then photographer Jack Leigh took an image of it at sunset one day in 1994 for the cover of a novel, “Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil” by John Berendt. Since then, the best-selling book has made the sculpture world-famous and the original in the Cemetery had to be removed to afford the family some privacy. You can now see it in Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah.

Nike of Samothrake is a third century B.C. marble sculpture of the Greek Goddess Nike – the winged Victory. Since 1884, it has been displayed at the Louvre in France and is one of the most famous sculptures in the world.

The work is sublime in its naturalistic pose and for its rendering of the figure’s draped garments, depicted as if rippling in a strong sea breeze.

Νίκη, (pronounced Nyk) meaning Victory), personified triumph. Her Roman equivalent was Victoria. Daughter of Titan and Styx and sister to Zeus. She also represents the divine charioteer and is shown with wings to illustrate the fleeting nature of victory. She was also the goddess of strength and speed and a close companion to Athena.

Familiar forenames like Nicholas ("Victory of the people"), Nick, Nikolai, Nils, Klaas and Nicola all stem from her.

8:5 Jewelled Birds

This copper falcon is from the Hopewell Culture, Mound City Group. It is cut from a sheet of copper and then stamped and impressed with additional designs.

Faberge Eggs were made as magnificent gifts for the rich and the royal from 1885 to 1917.

15 8:6 Fabric Designs Inspired By Birds

Traditionally limited to access to stone and metals, the people of Amazonia have become expert at utilizing the materials around them. Their intricate featherwork, painting, textiles and ceramics are famous all over the world. This ceremonial mantle is from the Chimu Empire, over a thousand years old and has images of Pelicans and Tuna fish on it.

The Caverna da Pedra Pintada (Cave of the Painted Rock) in the Para state of Brazil houses the oldest firmly dated art in the Americas – rock paintings dating back 11,000 years. The cave is also the site of the oldest ceramics in the Americas, from 5000 BCE

The Island of Maraio at the mouth of the Amazon River was a major center of ceramic traditions as early as 1000 CE and continues to produce ceramics today, characterized by cream-coloured bases painted with linear, geometric designs of red, black, and white slips.

With access to a wide range of native bird species, Amazonian indigenous peoples excel at featherwork, creating brilliant coloured headdresses, jewelry, clothing, and fans. Iridescent beetle wings are often incorporated into earrings and other jewelry.

This is a picture of an Hawaiian “ahu ừla” or feathered cape.

This is a picture of a Japanese Kimono – called a Uchikake, made of silk with Japanese cranes embroidered on it.

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