PRAISE OF B IRDS In praise of high-contrast birds, purple bougainvillea thicketing the golden oriole. In praise of civic birds, vultures cleansing the valleys, hummingbird logos on the tails of propeller planes; in praise of adaptable birds, the herring gull that demonstrates its knowledge of how to use a box junction, and seems to want to cross the road. In praise of birds eaten by aeroplane engines; in praise of birds trained to hunt drones; in praise of birds that, having nothing to do with human processes, crash aeroplanes. In praise of suicidal birds, brown ground doves forgetful of wingèdness, in front of cars, slowly crossing the road. In praise of perse birds like fish smashing out of a bowl. In praise of talk being cheep, and in praise of men who shut up about birds. In praise of birds of death and communication, Garuda the almost-but-more-than-an-eagle vehicle of the darkly bejewelled and awfully laughing Lord of Death. In praise of badly drawn birds. In praise of white egrets, sitting on mud, hippos, and lines about old age. 13