Lyrebirds can precisely imitate the encroachment of industrial man: chainsaws, car engines, fire alarms, rifle shots, police sirens, dirt bikes and mill whistles, among other things. I watched one on Youtube, imitating the chainsaws that were felling its forest. The responses were predictably banal: Superb! Amazing! Brilliant! Beautiful Cassandra, I recalled, prophesied a city's death and her own, but no one listened anyways.

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