Freak Birds A year ago we had a number of
freak birds in our vicinity, but now they seem to have gone. One of the most frequently seen was a mealy-coloured house sparrow that flew with a large flock of other sparrows about the gardens. He was two years old, to my knowledge. Another was a pied blackbird with a grand contrasting display of black and white. He, too, seems to have vanished, while the bald black- bird has probably died of old age. I think he had lost the skin of his head in a mousetrap set in a pea-patch and became bald as a result. Whatever the cause, he was an odd sight. When the feathers are off a bird's head the skull is really small. The bald blackbird had a low-brow look, something like a kiwi. Freak plumage is not uncommon, but pure albinos do not as a rule live long because they. are conspicuous and likely to be mobbed by their neighbours.
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