<P> The modern popularity of the symbol largely dates to 1911, when the Liver Building was built . This prominent display of two liver birds rekindled the idea that the liver was a mythical bird that once haunted the local shoreline . According to popular legend, they are a male and female pair: the female looking out to sea, watching for the seamen to return safely home, and the male looking in to the city, watching over the seamen's families (or "making sure the pubs are open", as a jocular version has it). Local legend also holds that the birds face away from each other as, if were they to mate and fly away, the city would cease to exist . In fact, they were indeed designed to watch the city (our people) and the sea (our prosperity). </P> <P> Another popular story told about them is that they are chained down, as if they were to fly away the River Mersey would burst its banks and flood the city of Liverpool . This is somewhat similar to the mating story . </P> <P> An all female rock group from Liverpool called The Liverbirds was active in the 60s . They moved to Hamburg in 1964, where they were billed as die weiblichen Beatles (the female Beatles). </P> <P> During the 1970s, The Liver Birds was the name of a popular British sitcom dealing with two young women in Liverpool, a play on the British slang term "bird" meaning a young woman . </P>

What is the story behind the liver birds