{"code":"birds","collection_type":"theme","subroute":"birds","title":"Of a Feather","header_1":"Of a Feather","header_2":"Beaks, claws, feathers and flight.","description":"A collection of short stories on birds. Read or download. H. G. Wells, Daphne Du Maurier, Banjo Paterson and more.","has_text":true,"quote":{"quote":"“Some had lost feathers in the fight; others had blood, his blood, upon their beaks.” * The Birds","code":"the-birds"},"image":true,"image_alt":"A pencil sketch of a wooden door with wooden bars, beaks, talons and eyes are peeking through.","image_filter":"grayscale(1) contrast(2.5)","image_title":"The Birds - Sketch","image_code":"the-birds","stories":[{"story":"aepyornis-island","description":" New insects and fish are discovered every day, and new mammals are often just slightly larger or smaller versions of each other. But to discover a new bird is to discover a new spectrum of colour and style of dance, and perhaps a unique adaptation to a strange environment of snow, rain and dangerous predators. One strange adaptation is the large, flightless character seen in the emu, ostrich, cassowary and extinct moa. To discover another of these is the explorer’s dream.\nIn *Aepyornis Island*, a man recounts being sent to collect eggs at a swamp where he found himself stuck without a way back. And, after an egg started to crack he had to learn to make a new friend."},{"story":"the-birds","description":"They may not seem intimidating to most, but something about the persistent and chaotic nature of a bird attacks sends some people in to a frenzy. Their claws and beaks may not be made for us, but they are razor sharp and build to tear through skin. One can only imagine what birds could really be capable of if they turned against us.\n*The Birds* is a classic horror story about a strange day in English cottage where nature turns against man. It is long and tense, and does the perfect job of convincing the reader that something so innocuous could become something so sinister."},{"story":"black-swans","description":"Many look to birds and are jealous of their freedom. Many desire to take flight and to see the world, unrestrained by human responsibilities. We all desire to ‘spread our wings’ at some point in our life. But even a bird’s life is restrained by hunger, migration and instinct, and perhaps nothing is truly completely free.\n*Black Swans* is a poem on the march of time and the inevitability of what it brings to all of us."},{"story":"the-raven","description":"Ravens and crows have always been omens of dark tidings. They are scavengers, first of all, but they also have many other features that send a shiver down our spine. They have an eerie call and are jet-black in colour. Their eyes are emotionless, predatorial and often wide open. And worst of all they sit around just out of reach, as if either waiting for something deadly to happen or taunting us without us realising.\n*The Raven* is a tragic story of a man driven to insanity by a single word. It is one of the most recognisable poems of all time and for good reason."}]}