Mr. Revill's unusual milieu is old bits of wood or furniture that he carves into birds and birdlike figures within the self-framing constraints of of the wood.

In a solo called "Recidive," Hela Fattoumi is a birdlike figure who moves constantly on the balls of her feet while playing with balance and imbalance.

Shadow was certain he had seen it before, this ghostly, birdlike figure.

Megan Williams and Marianne Moore echo each other as birdlike figures; a different symmetry comes from Tina Fehlandt and Mireille Radwan-Dana in the beginning.

"I've lugged this rubbish from Matabeleland to Cape Town and back," complained Jan Cheroot disgustedly as he stood back from the graven birdlike figure on its stone plinth.

She made it all the way to the top - a tiny, birdlike figure, her legs poised like wings, her eyes big as saucers - and then, on the way back down, the bowls fell and shattered in the ring.

It had a flapping, birdlike figure in the center, with three circles around it.

She disappeared for a moment, then reappeared; disappeared, reappeared - a tiny birdlike figure - bright blue plumage against the dreary wood.

"When John lived with us in Naples, he once told us that he had seen a big black evil birdlike figure over his shoulder in our family room," the elder Mr. Salvi said.

The beasts, birdlike figures with webbed feet and sweeping tail feathers, wear outrageous hats that look as if they were made by a surrealist-minded milliner.