Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2000 - 2003

 2000. Even though birds are in the habit of talking all at once, and each will try to speak louder than the others, nevertheless this does not prevent them or conducting their affairs in a civilized and cultivated manner. At the end of these loud arguments they always reach a consensus which anyone can see because they become suddenly silent, and then all of a sudden, as if at a given signal, they all fly away quietly at once.

 2001. Then, to celebrate the unanimity of their councils they will soar and dive in great circles in the air.  They  fly as if instructed by a master choreographer, each one of them attuned to the movements of the other to such an extent that thousands of them can drop two feet and veer down and to the left as if they were part of one gigantic organism ruled over by one mind. Such is their harmony in flight. 

 2002. They experience a joy there is no equivalent of in human experience. People get a glimpse of it if they watch a ballet, and marvel at the subtle precision of the movements of many persons on a stage all kicking a left leg up in the air. But that apparent harmony is possible because somewhere in the wings is the director who has drilled his performers to death to get them to appear to be moving in harmony. Actually they usually all want to kill each other, and lynch the choreographer. 

2003. But the birds have no director, perhaps they accomplish it because they love each other, and no one of them wants to be more important than another. Their movements seem to say, “You go first, no you," all instantaneously. But in Vince’s wagon they could never resolve their discussions and so their argument went on and on.