Footnotes to a History of Ornithology
Kristina Marie Darling

^1. An exotic bird, frequently shot and mounted for display.

^2. In the aviary, an odd stillness. That was when she wandered among the cages, lifting their tiny golden doors. Her outstretched hands.

^3. I kept the sparrow in a locked box so as to preserve its feathers, their meticulous order. The next morning a sequence of unfamiliar notes emerged, that ominous singing.

^4. Anomaly, anomalous:
1. One that is difficult to classify.
2. A divergence or departure.
3. The angular deviation, as observed from the sun, of a planet from its perihelion.

^5. The documentary (c. 1986) depicts a series of attempts to enclose the nightingales. Although unsuccessful, the apparatus remains among the museum's collections.

^6. Serinus canaria. Characterized by an ostentatious yellow throat. Its brief lifespan.

^7. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, mute Philomela is also changed into a bird. These transformations, while enigmatic, were accompanied by the same improbability of music.

^8. Inside the box, I found a piece of straw, its dirty feathers. A gilt mirror glistening beneath the upturned lid.

^9. "An unfinished composition."

^10. See Appendix A.

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