[Birds in Flight]

RU 1900-1905. D: Alexander Shiryaev. DigiBeta, 0'04” (source: 45 mm paper film, digitally re-animated by Aardman Animations, Bristol, 2008, now looped); source: Viktor Bocharov/Aardman Animation.
David Robinson: "This fragment may well be Shiryaev’s first experiment with animation, probably done between 1900 and 1905, drawn on paper film 45 mm wide, for viewing in an apparatus of his own devising. Although much less ambitious and sophisticated than his eventual work in animation, it is fascinating to see him experimenting with a form of animal movement that had always fascinated and generally frustrated the chronographers Marey and Muybridge." – David Robinson.