Bird Guilt...

I know birds pair up with their mates. I've seen all kinds of birds flapping around a fallen mate hit by a car, laying in the middle of the road. When I was about ten years old, I received a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. I went outside and saw a red cardinal on the electric line going to my neighbors house. I aimed and shot the bird. He fell and fluttered into my yard. I ran over and picked him up. He laid in my hand, chest up, bleeding from a hole in his chest. His heart was beating so fast and he just looked at me for about twenty seconds, just looking up at me with terror in his eyes. Asking why. Then he stopped breathing. His little death stare is still burned into my brain. I never hurt another animal since that day...