The other morning as I traversed the woodsy path betwixt where I park my car and where I park myself each morning, my eye was caught by a flit of black and white wings. The wings themselves were black, the tips white - very like a magpie, and very unlike anything else I knew of, so I kept an eye on the bird as I walked. Soon, the corner of a red breast came in view, and I was quite perplexed, as it really looked like a robin. As I saw more of it, and the red breast was confirmed in all its blood-hued glory, it suddenly turned its head and stared at me out of a glinting crimson eye. It truly had a wicked aspect.

While it is probable that the bird in question is merely some sort of red-winged blackbird I have not previously encountered or such, it is my more favored opinion that either the long-haired or the short-haired of the two black cats that prowl and stalk the campus has learned to shift his shape - and while he attempts to turn his guise to that of an innocent robin, his malign purpose infects and informs the very tincture of his eye and feathers…