" The white birds gorged on the swarm of dead bluebottles that had carpeted the ground. The cold had killed them the moment they left the heat of the chimney. The birds grew fatter before Tatum’s eyes and their features grew hideously distorted, but they continued their gluttony.

The Nurse said, ‘They can’t help themselves - the poison is irresistible to them.’

The white birds devoured every bluebottle, and the heavily laden flock ascended slowly into the air and then went in search of their next feast. "

― Jim Lowe , New Reform (New Reform Quartet #1)