Man, tied to the ground since his beginnings, has always been fascinated by the seemingly weightless beings between heaven and earth, the birds. Evidence of ancient representations of birds are found everywhere on Earth. The catalog presents some 120 objects and explores their artistic symbolism. Since ancient times birds played an important role in many cultures. Man used their meat and eggs for food, their iridescent feathers for their own embellishment, and observed and interpreted their behavior. Some birds have been deified, others considered mediators between this world and the netherworld. Hunters were impressed by the deadly weapons and the silent and swift flight of the birds of prey. Accordingly, representations of birds or their parts are everywhere. The approximately 120 objects, most of which are published in the exhibition catalog for the first time ever, come, with few exceptions, from the collection of Ebnöther in the Museum Allerheiligen Schaffhausen. The pre-Columbian cultures of Central and South America, where the bird took a very prominent position, find dominance. A smaller but no less fascinating group of objects comes from the ancient Near East, where winged hybrid beings are present in inexhaustible variety in different works of art. What ideas and what symbols are hidden behind the shapely, often decorative-looking presentations? Such questions are of concern to the international team of authors. The contributions not only represent cultural considerations, but also take an explicitly ornithological point of view. German text.