THE ORNITHOLOGIST IN QUESTION Poem by Morten Søndergaard

An ornithologist is a person with a powerful urge to watch birds. If two ornithologists catch sight of one another, one of them will mention a figure. It might be a high figure, let's say 267, or a somewhat lower figure, 113 for example. The ornithologist who has cited the lower figure will eye the other ornithologist, the one who has cited the higher figure, appreciatively and possibly give a whistle of admiration. The ornithologist with the high figure will shrug his shoulders. They will then part and go their separate ways. The reason for this is that the figures 267 or 113 refer to the number of different species of bird which the ornithologist in question has crossed off in his copy of The Colour Guide to Birds of the World, a book by Swede Gunnar Fahlström. Gunnar Fahlström is the ornithologist who has cited the highest figure. The number of crosses can vary widely, depending on the ornithologist's age and keenness. It should be added that ornithologists are honest souls. In general they wear clothes in simple, natural colours, and some carry small pairs of binoculars on leather straps around their necks. The Colour Guide to Birds of the World comes in a handy pocket format. To save a lot of unnecessary flicking back and forth through The Colour Guide to Birds of the World when an ornithologist spots a new, non-crossed-off species, ornithologists have introduced the practice of gluing together those pages on which every bird has been crossed off. It is said that all the pages of Gunnar Fahlström's own copy of The Colour Guide to Birds of the World are glued together, and that this book, which is nothing but an unreadable, glued-up clump, is wedged under a table leg in a mountain hut in north-east Lapland, to prevent the table from wobbling.