What Became of the Bird?
The next morning, following my discovery of the wounded pigeon the night before, I and Edward casually strolled past the spot where I'd hidden the bird. As I'd dreaded but rather expected, there on the dark earth was a scattered burst of silvery down--the only remains the cats ever leave behind after a happy feast of pigeon.
5 Comments:
Cats usually leave the feet and beak as well...maybe what you saw was the pigeons sense of survival causing it to shed its polluted feathers before it hopped up onto a nearby statue to live happily as pigeons do (but probably not).
That was a sad story. It also made me think of variable ratio conditioning experiments which made me sadder.
oh, that is so sad! my husband HATES it, but i really like pigeons. they're quite intelligent and it's not their fault that we domesticated them and make them the filthy, hobbled, flying city rats they have become. poor guy. but then again it's all part of the cycle of nature that the weak shall perish back into the food chain...
That was a sad ending to your heroic efforts, but I suppose it would have been too fanciful to think otherwise.
Jaime, I think after that first bit of slaughter defeathering, the cat drags the bird to a place where it can eat in peace--and wherever that is, that must be where all those leftover beaks and feet are as well.
eachmachine, I'm afraid I don't know anything about variable ratio conditioning experiments and why they're sad. Feel free to elaborate. I'm curious.
Rae, you're the first person I've met who likes pigeons. Though I'm sure you're right and that the original pigeons were a far nobler, un-diseased creature.
Ruth, I really wasn't being heroic. And it was rather a lost cause.
from Rachel