A Pitying of Doves by Steve Burrows Read Free Book Online

exactly?”
    â€œHer exact area of research would be a bit abstruse for a non-specialist, I should imagine, but I can give you the Idiot’s Guide version for the purposes of being able to fill out your copper’s forms. Phoebe was attempting to identify the specific wintering grounds of the Turtledoves that arrive in north Norfolk in the spring.”
    â€œAnd she would do this through bird ringing?”
    No wonder Jejeune flashed Maik a look. It wasn’t like the sergeant to supply the answers himself when he was questioning somebody. Maik was angry with himself for falling into the trap of trying to justify that he was bright enough to be worthy of questioning Nyce. He returned Jejeune’s look with one that told the DCI he should feel free to jump in at any time. After all, this was about birds .
    â€œShe couldn’t rely on information from ringed birds, surely,” said Jejeune. “It would be far too unpredictable. She could go entire monitoring seasons without ever netting a ringed Turtledove, let alone one from specific wintering grounds she had been monitoring.”
    â€œAnd a round of applause for the inspector,” said Nyce. He leaned across the table toward Maik and nodded in Jejeune’s direction, dropping his voice to a stage aside. “That’s why he’s the boss, you see.” He leaned back in his chair, resting one foot on an open drawer. “Phoebe was using stable isotopes to track the birds. Hydrogen isotopes, or deuterium, to be more precise, come from the rainwater, carbon isotopes you get from the plants, and those of nitrogen from any fertilizers used in the area. Isotope levels vary and are quite specific to a location. Anything the birds eat contains these isotopes, so by recovering feathers from birds once they get here, and measuring the isotope levels, you can tell where the bird was when it was growing its feathers.”
    â€œAs long as you have already identified the various isotope levels at their wintering sites,” Jejeune added.
    â€œYes, Inspector, full marks again. There are numerous projects all over North America doing the same kind of thing: American Redstarts in Jamaica, for example. But Phoebe’s was one of the first in that part of Africa. It was considerably more difficult, mega-probs with logistics, infrastructure, et cet.”
    Maik could understand a twonk like this having to play to an invisible audience, awarding marks and rounds of applause and such. Given the choice, most real people would doubtless give David Nyce a very wide berth indeed. “Any reason she would have chosen Turtledoves, specifically?” he asked, more to show he had recovered his composure than because he had any real interest in the answer. But Nyce flashed Jejeune a look, as if he thought someone as obviously interested in birds as the DCI might have already covered a topic this important in a case involving Turtledoves.
    â€œTurtledove populations in the U.K. are going off a cliff, Sergeant. Reason enough for you? They’ve declined by about seventy-five percent in the past forty years. Here in Norfolk, we still see more than most places, but those heady days of fifty-strong flocks are long gone, I’m afraid. A sighting now is worthy of a note on the Norfolk birding websites.”
    â€œSo Phoebe Hunter was doing important work, then?” asked Maik with the kind of emphasis designed to remind Nyce of her worth.
    Nyce nodded reluctantly. “Inasmuch as it’s certainly true to say that unless somebody does something, the extinction of Turtledoves in our lifetime is a very real possibility.”
    Maik must have looked dubious.
    â€œSad to say, we have let it happen before.” Nyce looked at Jejeune. “Will you tell him, Inspector, or shall I?” He turned back to Maik. “There is a well-known report from the inspector’s homeland. A single flock of Passenger Pigeons in southern Ontario took