My first reaction to this book was shock and horror: Shock that the subject needed such a monumental tome to do justice to it. And horror that there were so many birds that required special care and protection—like patients in a rather large intensive care unit. The genesis of the book is interesting. According to Rahmani about three to four years ago, at a meeting of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, the Secretary complained that there was no book which gave ready information on different threatened taxa in India, and even for birds, that are relatively better known, there was not any ready reckoner for decision makers. He suggested that the BNHS should bring out a book on the rare birds of India.
August 2012, volume 36, No 8