Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve breed on adjacent farmland. Little bustard ("Tetrax tetrax") occurs all year but is more numerous in winter. Raptors which may be seen over the fields include black-winged kite ("Elanus caeruleus"), short-toed eagle ("Circaetus gallicus") and booted eagle ("Aquila pennatus") Nearby patches of woodland hold short-toed treecreeper ("Certhia brachydactyla"), European nightjar ("Caprimulgus europaeus"), red-necked nightjar ("Caprimulgus ruficollis"), Iberian magpie ("Cyanopica cooki") and many passerines. During the Spring and Autumn many species stopover on the Tagus during their migration these include curlew sandpiper ("Calidris ferruginea") in large numbers with many other shorebirds in smaller numbers, Common redshank and Balck-tailed Godwits reach their
Little Birds 'little birds' of the title story refer both to the actual birds used by its exhibitionist protagonist to attract young schoolgirls to his attic, and (metaphorically) to the girls' flight when he finally exposes himself. In other stories, Nin calls into question the objectifying tendencies of the male gaze; both male and female complicity in masochism; and the pornographic genre itself through her subtle subversion. While writing her erotica, and organising that of her fellow writers such as George Barker, Nin referred to herself jokingly as the "madam of this snobbish literary house of prostitution" for a client who examined