Paul had witnessed a few birds in the bush before but had never espied a chicken up a mango tree avoiding cock! He knew it to be one of those odd things one comes across when travelling in South Asia. The sub continent never disappointed.  He and Andrew had once seen an unfortunate man’s brains frying steadily on a scorching highway after an accident their vehicle had narrowly avoided – but that was an altogether darker scene.  The avian antics now unfolding  before him were far more comic. He chuckled as he watched the harried chuck cling on to an unripe fruit for dear life whilst the desperate clucker beneath stalked her mercilessly, egging her on to descend so that he could do much the same.  Only on her!  They were quite the lovebirds. Paul turned to his partner and asked what type of chicken it was.  He usually hated the creatures finding them preferable in a bowl to them scrabbling around his ankles with their putrid dinosaur feet.  However, this little bird possessed feathered bloomers which stylishly disguised the normal nasty talons – and a feathered hat. She was almost charming. Almost ‘Chanel’. Andrew had no idea. ‘But you know about birds’,  Paul quacked, ‘ that was one of the first things that impressed me about you.’ ‘Only cos I read an ornithology of garden bloody birds when I was eleven!’ Andrew retorted. ‘I never professed to be an […]

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