Pigeon is a common type of poultry in Chinese cuisine and the birds are sold live in markets around the country.

NPR: China Kills Market Birds As Flu Found In Pigeons

Experts urged Chinese health authorities to keep testing healthy birds, saying the H7N9 virus can infect birds without causing disease, making it harder to detect than the H5N1 bird flu virus that is more familiar to Asian countries.

NPR: China Kills Market Birds As Flu Found In Pigeons

Both had close contact with birds, according to Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.

CNN: Cambodia sees spike in bird flu deaths

Wednesday, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the H7N9 virus probably came from migratory birds from East Asia that mixed with domestic fowl in China's Yangtze River delta region around Shanghai.

CNN: WHO reports 5 new bird flu cases in China; total now 49

Many of the poses and compositions were probably borrowed from Chinese ink paintings, and here they come together in a dynamic composition of black birds clustering on land and flying in midair.

WSJ: Flights of Feathered Fancy | Birds in the Art of Japan | Metropolitan Museum of Art | By Lee Lawrence