Cant find this anywhere in the US. Will trade for it if someone has it.

Ahhh, got lots of pesky sparrows here but the even peskier grackles keep them in check. The mockingbirds and great kiskadees then in turn keep the grackles in check. While the big birds are fighting amongst themselves the little hummies zip, zing and zoom around without any fear. The hummies are pretty territorial and they have staked out the eastside yard and backyard. I've seen them chase off mockingbirds from the fruit trees back there! I don't have it in me to kill off a bird - even a pesky sparrow...but I have resorted to removing sparrow nests from my birdhouses - everytime I see them starting to build - I grab the ladder and chase them away. They built nests in the neighbor's birdhouses :o) ~ Cat

My DS was 6-7 and home from school sick in bed. We had a snow and everything was covered and freezing cold outside. DS called me into the bedroom and told me to look out at the bird on the telephone wire. The poor thing looked like he was frozen to the wire, but apparently not because after a while as we watched, he appeared to fall to the ground. DS asked me to go see what was wrong with the bird. So of course I bundled up, put on boots and gloves and went out on rescue. I brought the bird in and we could see that he had a grain of corn stuck in his throat. I managed to dislodge it and he was then ready to go. I let him out the door and he flew away. I've forgotten many of the things DS did to aggravate me, but I still remember that day when he had to know that one bird was helped. He is still like that, very caring. Sue

I have a doubly literary one for you: My brother named his cockatiel Quasimodo - Quasi for short - after a pigeon of the same name in Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. That pigeon in turn had been named after the bell-ringer from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, because it was so ugly when he got it. It was moulting from its baby down and had pin feathers sticking in every direction, just like Quasi when brother got him. My own tiel has a sort of literary name as well: Ljúflingur, which is a metaphor used in poetry to refer to an elf or a lover. It literally means "sweet one".