'I seem to have difficulty keeping birds out of my books, from my illustrated version of Aristophanes' The Birds to John Yeoman's Featherbrains to Roald Dahl's The Magic Finger...' For over half a century, Quentin Blake has been adding to the galety of our daily lives via his exuberant illustrations, both for children and for adults. Now, in this exquisitely produced book, he gives free reign to his imagination. The idea of drawing birds as people isn't new, but has allowed Quentin Blake licence to depict characters that he might not feel ready to otherwise. In his human aviary we see the young and the old, the weak and the strong; we see sadness and laughter; and perhaps, if we look closely, we see ourselves. In The Life of Birds Quentin Blake follows in the footsteps of both the great illustrators - Lear and Daumier - and fabulists - Aesop and La Fontaine, but in a manner that is entirely, delightfully, inimitably, his own.