“‘Slings and Arrows.’ This article starts with a quote from To Kill a Mockingbird that states that it is a great sin to kill a mockingbird, but it is perfectly acceptable to kill as many blue jays as you want. The author makes a case for these much-maligned creatures who are crucial to oak tree propagation among other things. It's true about the oak trees, I've seen it first hand outside of our kitchen window; the jays collecting acorns and shoving them into the ground to let them develop a little gravy before feasting. I never thought about shooting them, with arrows or otherwise, but we did get one particularly social one named Peanut to eat from our hands. The detail was important in this painting because one of the things I remembered about Peanut was that close up, he was a little terrifying—but then again, who isn't?"