We are Ken Jennings and John Roderick.

We are Ken Jennings and John Roderick. We speak to you from our present, which we can only assume is your distant past, the turbulent time that was the early 21st century.

Fearing the great cataclysm that will surely befall our civilization, we began this

monumental reference of strange and obscure human knowledge.

These recordings represent our attempt to compile and preserve wonders and esoterica that would otherwise be lost.

So whether you're listening from an advanced civilization or have just reinvented the technology to decrypt our transmissions,

this is our legacy to you.

This is our time capsule.

This is the omnibus. Oh, You have accessed entry 431.

P.S. 84083, certificate number 276003, the European Starling.

The European Starling is also known as the Common Starling.

The problem is that at least in our era, it's much too common and not nearly European enough.

This is a story that begins back in 1890. On March 6th, 1890, there's an eccentric,

wealthy pharmaceutical manufacturer in New York named Eugene Chifflin who goes to Central Park because he is a man with a dream.

He's a man with a very weird dream.

Funny that an eccentric pharmaceutical magnate would also be a guy with a weird dream

To be honest with you the weird dream is the only evidence I have that he's eccentric I have no idea if he like also

Dresses up as a bear and runs down you know we

come on with only hope yeah but on this particular day he's in service of this

dream that has been animating him for many years, which is for some reason to

introduce to North America every species of bird that appears in the works of

William Shakespeare. He's a lover as so many of us are of both Shakespeare and Birds.

...