Birds of the Ancient World by Jeremy Mynott

Published by Oxford University Press hard back, Pages 452 Price £30.00

This is an amazing book which takes you back to Greek and Roman times and how they saw the bird life around them. Extracts from written work all those years ago show birds in everyday life and how the writers of the day portrayed them. Features like vultures following armies waiting for their breakfast of the dead soldiers compared to mistletoe berries made into bird lime to catch the birds for consumption. Many birds were featured in Mosaics with sites like Pompey were filled with the birds of their time preserved under all that ash for us to enjoy now. Jeremy has really done his ‘home work’ leaving no Cuckoo missed out in the classical world and if you like ‘ancient birds’ like I do add this book to your library.