If you get them at the right time of year, many birds are easy to catch. For an agile hunter, a small boy for example, there isn't much of a problem in collecting eggs and chicks from the nest; some adults can also be snatched by hand. Commercial hunters in the nineteenth century reported that Passenger Pigeons - once their eggs had hatched - could be plucked right off the nest.
Even among birdwatchers there are those who feel the need to possess the birds, if only symbolically. To have them is to tick them off your list. And the best list is 'the life list'- the record of all the species you have ever seen.
What is it, this urge to own another living creature? And why is it that we understand so well the universal symbol of the bird being set free from the cage?
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