"The British especially have wreathed the bird's back-door familiarity with a vast body of story and folklore": the European Robin, Erithacus rubicula, in one of David Tipling's many top-class wildlife photographs, taken in 39 countries, and including humans, such as Kazakh eagle-hunters, in their interaction with various species of birds (and their feathers), to illustrate Mark Cocker's magnificent nearly 600-page volume Birds and People (Jonathan Cape, £40 (£36); 978-0-224-08174-0; hardback with ribbon marker). Here are personal anecdotes and stories from more than 650 people in 81 different countries. The birds are grouped by families, and other illustrations are also included, even the poster for Hitchcock's film The Birds (under "Crow and Jay Family"). For a smaller book on biblical birds, see this page.