GREAT READS

Still life : adventures in taxidermy

Melissa Milgrom.

The bird judges argued and squawked until their eyes landed on a mount that left everyone speechless. It wasn't something regal and symbolic like a bald eagle or exotic like a brilliantly plumed macaw, but two English tree sparrows one protecting its nest from the other a subtle narrative with a delightful mise en scene. Bird droppings indicated that the sparrows inhabited the area. A feather in one sparrow's beak animated the process of buildingg a nest. Crouching down to see it from all sides, the judges detected not a single flaw. "The sideshow is three hundred sixty degrees," they agreed, gazing into the little world before them as if it were alive. Book jacket.