Kim Todd

Innocent. Invader. Lover. Thief. Sparrows are everywhere, in many guises. They are cherished pets, the subject of elegies by Catullus and John Skelton, and listed as 'pretty things' in Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book. They're grimy, urban vermin with shocking manners, so reviled that during the 1950s, Mao placed them on the list of 'Four Pests' and ordered the Chinese people...