Caught a bird of many colors inside a jar!

A rainbow colored bird that seems almost unbelievable!

Our maid presented us with a surprising thing this evening (24-3-2011) when we came home from work. She caught a beautiful little bird with many colors and placed it into a plastic jar! The story goes that she discovered two similar specie birds in Jia Yin's room during the afternoon and managed to caught one. She then placed the unlucky bird inside a plastic jar which she poked with many small holes for ventilation. She also placed a piece of round hard biscuit for the bird to eat! We were amazed at the dazzling bird but decided that it would be best for the bird to be release to ensure its survival and also that we feel that it deserve to be free even though I still have a bird cage left behind by my beloved uncle-Kwan Kim Thai who loved animals and birds; unfortunately, he died at the young age of 25 due to horrendous politics. I think it might be a kingfisher although its seem a rather odd one and later I think it might just be a humming bird due to its beak but it seemed too large for a humming bird. I had actually seen humming birds near my house several years ago and was amazed at the wondrous sight then.

Faced with this situation. I was reminded of William Blake's remonstration that "A Robin Redbreast in a Cage Puts all Heaven in a Rage." I also thought of Leonardo Da Vinci's gallant act of purchasing caged birds in the market and then set them free. So I explained to the maid that we would not be able to take care of this bird in captivity in a proper fashion and that it would be best if we allow it to live free and that it would be a good thing for her to let it go; so she was given the honor of setting the bird free out in the yard. Finally it also bring to mind the lyric from The Circle Game in which the child "caught a dragonfly inside a jar." I had never ever catch a dragonfly inside a jar but to see the bird inside the jar is almost startling as the bird seemed so surreal; it looked almost like a toy. Here then is the wondrous Joni Mitchell's evergreen song-The Circle Game: