Treasures of Indian Wildlife.

• Author: Rocher, Rosane

Treasures of Indian Wildlife. Edited by ASHOK S. KOTHARI and BOMAN F. CHHAPGAR. Mumbai: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, for the Bombay Natural History Society, 2005. Pp. 216, plates. Rs 3040.

This volume is a feast for the eye. Produced on behalf of the Bombay Natural History Society, it features more than seventy color plates and a like number of black-and-white illustrations of Indian fauna. It is superbly produced, thanks to the sponsorship of many individuals, corporations, and public bodies, severally acknowledged on each color plate. Most of the plates are reproduced from John Gould's multivolume Birds of Asia (1850-1883), some from Gould's prior Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains (1832), a few more from other nineteenth-and early twentieth-century books in the collections of the Bombay Natural History Society as well as from articles published in the Society's journal. Traditional hunting scenes are also reproduced from manuscripts of the Akbar Nama in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and of the Babur Nama in the National Museum, Delhi. Expert captions are provided.

The editors also reprint and provide apt and handsome black-and-white illustrations for selections from nineteenth- and early...