© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 97
A. Si, The Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Solega, Ethnobiology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-24681-9_4
Chapter 4
Solega Ethno-ornithology
4.1 Introduction
The BRT forests are said to be home to approximately 250 species of birds [ 82 , 83 ],
and a signifi cant number of bird species have been given names in the Solega lan-
guage. This chapter presents collaborative research carried out with an ornitholo-
gist, Samira Agnihotri (henceforth SA) from the Indian Institute of Science, who
has over 5 years’ experience in observing, recording and identifying BRT birds in
the company of Solega-speaking fi eld assistants. Here, I fi rst describe the patterns
of Solega bird nomenclature , giving particular attention to which species are named,
and which are not, and suggesting explanations for the differences. I believe that the
latter is a particularly important question, one that is frequently ignored in studies
on ethnobiological nomenclature. Next, I describe how the naming of birds in
Solega is at times a dynamic, consensus-based process, where many of the phenom-
ena described by Sillitoe [ 60 ] can be observed. Finally, I give an account of the very
important role that birds play in Solega life, myth and ritual.
This chapter was previously published in the Journal of Ethnobiology as a paper
co-authored with SA [ 167 ]. The following text contains an expanded ‘Birds in
Solega Life, Myth and Ritual’, the main additions being texts and translations of
bird-related myths. Additional data and analyses have also been added to Sect. 4.3.2
‘Picture Elicitation Task’ and Sect. 4.4 ‘Role of Perceptual Salience’.
4.2 Methods
A basic list of bird name s in Solega was fi rst compiled with the help of Solega-
speaking fi eld assistants from the ATREE fi eld station (Fig. 4.1 ), where both authors
were based. These were Solega men whose ages ranged from around 30 to 45, and
included individuals who had worked with author SA in fi eld situations while