[syndicate] The Birds of Nikolai Gogol

[jeff harrison]

THE SORONCHINSKY FAIR 

the Hooded Crow 
related to carrion crow, 
only of late regarded as 
distinct from carrion crow. 

they are more social. 

* 

THE OVERCOAT 

the Pied Wagtails 
do not, even on 
the coldest of nights, 
huddle together. 

* 

TARAS BULBA 

Jackdaw: a talkative corvine 
stealing eggs and chicks. 

* 

NEVSKY PROSPECT 

Lesser Black-backed Gulls, persecuted 
for some forgotten reason. 

omnivorous. 

* 

THE NOSE 

if young Great-crested Grebes 
get too heavy, they can drown their 
mother when using her for a boat. 

* 

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL 

straw, dead and green leaves, 
flower petals, winged seeds, 
feathers and scraps of paper 
have all been found in Swift nests. 

fresh poppy petals are sometimes used. 

the material is stuck to the nest with saliva. 

* 

DEAD SOULS 

Greenfinch, 
Carduelis chloris: 
she lays four to five eggs 
in April (or June). 

* 

THE DIARY OF A MADMAN 

Common Tern's 
wingspan: 31 inches. 

grey upperwing with 
dark outer primaries. 

pale underwing with 
trailing edge broad, blurry, 
and dark. 

* 

TERRIBLE VENGEANCE 

unspecified bird: 

haunting a storm, transliterate, 
no bird had ever haunted. 

"yet every mimicky bird art thou" 

said Virginia (marginalia): 
her brain, it was lent (Ovidian) 
to that bird / in fullest flow. 

 		
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