Being a birder and an avid reader, I notice when birds get mentioned in 
articles that have absolutely nothing to do with birds.

In the August 20, 2007, edition of the New Yorker Magazine, there is a long 
article about picking matsutake mushrooms in the American West.  One of the 
mushroom pickers is a Cambodian immigrant with an amazing life story.  I now 
quote from the article:

    "He worked as a mechanic in Stockton and hadn't picked them [mushrooms] 
since he was a boy in Cambodia.  He used to roast them in the woods with the 
hummingbirds he killed with his slingshot."

This boggles the mind and commenting on it is just fruitless.  I imagine 
(hope) it may be a translation error.

Jim Wilson
Queenstown