Chapter 1

Birds are some of the most diverse creatures to ever live. They are very intelligent, too, some even using tools and speaking small snippets of human words. Some can see a greater range of colors than we can, and outsmart us in some facets of object-permanence. In The Aviary, though, some birds have more powers than just that. There are fire pheasants, birds with bright plumage that can shoot fire from their beaks. There are speaking grey cockatoos, able to quickly and efficiently learn languages. There are fanged vultures, people-sized creatures that can crush bones in their jaws. But most mysteriously there are the witching birds, unlike anything anyone has ever hoped to see...