Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Smee]

I have read recently in a novel: "At the time it had seemed almost funny, the fat, fluffy white birds lying here and there, in yards and on streets; coming out no earlier than twilight as they had while alive the owls escaped notice."
Would you mind explain me in other words what exactly means the last part of the excerpt?
(The excerpt belongs to the novel: "Do androids dream of electric sheeps?" by Philip K. D.i.c.k.)

[SiamBull]

coming out no earlier than twilight as they had while alive the owls escaped notice."


Hello,
These white birds are apparently dead, maybe ghosts. These owls come out when the sun is going down (twilight) and they are not seen (escape notice) in the same way as in the past when they were living birds.

Exactly what a 'fluffy' bird is is hard to say.

Bull
_________________
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Ben Franklin

[bud]

Smee, as a native English speaker, I can make no grammatical sense of the last part of that sentence. Are you sure it is copied exactly? If the words are correct, perhaps the punctuation is a bit off?