The unexpected beginnings of Salim Ali’s lifelong scientific pursuits

“A cock sparrow perched on the nail near the entrance to the hole while the female sat inside on the eggs. I ambushed them from behind a stabled carriage and shot the male. In a very short while the female acquired another male who also sat “on guard” on the nail outside. I shot this male also, and again in no time the female seemed to have another male in waiting who immediately stepped into the gap of the deceased husband”. This is a note written by India’s legendary birdman Salim Ali in 1906-07 when he was a 10-year-old boy.

Many years later Salim Ali wrote in his autobiography The Fall of a Sparrow , “I am rather proud of this note because though intended as a record of my prowess as a hunter and made long before I was conscious of any possible relevance, it has proved more mean