UGLY BIRD

UGLY BIRD

"First out I saw it was dark, heavy-winged, bigger than a buzzard. Then I saw the shiny gray-black of the body, like wet slate, and how it seemed to have feathers only on its wide wings. Then I made out the thin snaky neck, the bulgy head and long stork beak, the eyes set in front of its head—man-fashion in front, not to each side. The feet that taloned onto the sack showed pink and smooth with five graspy toes. The wings snapped like a tablecloth in a wind, and it churned away over the 

 trees with the meal sack."

"I saw teeth, sharp and mean, like a garpike's teeth. It swooped for me, and the wind of its wings was colder than a winter storm."

"I looked quick, and saw two long, dark wings flop away from the door. 

The Ugly Bird had spied."
Manly Wade Wellman, O, Ugly Bird!