The Cain and Abel of the bird world

One of our finches (Lil Jon) killed the other one (Robin Hood). He had been picking on him (pecking on him?) for quite awhile now. This is the end of six weeks of abuse, during which he had lost most of his feathers and had suffered several bloody attacks. We think they (the two males) were fighting over the female, Beyonce, their sister.

Today, after returning from a trip all around the state, we found poor little Robin Hood mangled but still living, breathing slowly and hiding in the food bowl. His eyes were swollen shut and his face was bloody.

We transferred him to his own box, to try to nurse him back to health. While we were watching him and pondering what we should do, he fluttered his wings one last time, stretched out his legs and died before our eyes. It was a sad moment in our house... you feel bad for the little guy getting picked on. I showed the dead bird to Helena and James, and it is hard to tell what they thought. They acted differently than how they normally react when I show them a bird in my hands, worth two in the bush. They normally are interested and fascinated, and they still were with he dead bird, but in a different way, yet it was clear they had no idea what had actually happened.

Robin Hood is laying in state tonight, and a backyard funeral is planned for tomorrow. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to your local chapter of "STOP Bird-on-Bird Violence NOW!" (SBOBViN)