A reader ( a Mr. S.W Otty, if that's his real name) has emailed me about one of my quiz question from a couple of posts ago .... here's the original question ... what do all these (fictional) birds have in common.....? ... Cliff-lift Swift Tufty Tit Silly Stilt Which-is-it Kiwi Crusty Gull Scary Finch Well, old S W tells me that my answer wasn't the only one. He claims that (a) the birds are real !!!!! (b) their names derive from their calls !!!!!!! And it turns out he's right .... here's what Wackypedia has to say about them ... Cliff-lift Swift. So-called not because of its proclivity for elevatory appliances, but actually because of its penetrating " Kleeeeeee-Fleeeeeft" call which is uttered during its mating-flight on Thursday evenings. [ crumbs ] Tufty Tit. Yes, it is tufty, but in its native land that would be called " kebbleem." No, our name for it comes from the piercing call " TUFFFFFFFFFFFFF-teeee which it does just once in its life, when it eats one peanut too many.. that's all it takes folks. Silly Stilt. Well, of course, Stilts aren't silly at all. No. The real reason for its name is the almost inaudible whispery " seeeeeee-leeeeeeee" which it makes just as it falls asleep in its neat little bed of dried seaweed. How sweet. Which-is-it Kiwi There are 17 races of Kiwis, and the Which-is-it Kiwi is by far the stupidest. It is drastically indecisive, and whenever it is faced with a decision, it pours out its plaintive, worried call of " witch-is-it, witch-is-it,witch-is-it" over and over until it comes to a decision at last. Mostly a bad decision, actually. Crusty Gull This is an odd one. Nobody knows why, but whenever it sees a parked car with the windows rolled down, it starts calling " crooooooooos- TEE" over and over again, often for hours on end. The only way to stop it, temporarily, is to throw it a bit of bread.It works, but why ?What it did before cars were invented ....... nobody knows. Scary Finch No, it's not scary at all...of course not. Smelly, yes. Scary, no. It's called that because of its "amatory ascent". Up and up it flies, and then bombs down at an immense speed to impress its current squeeze with its prowess ... and just before it plummets to its death, it utters the single call... scaaaaaaaaaare............... EEEEEE. Just like that. Weird ! So, thanks to my correspondent from Chipping Shitbury, we now know a bit more about the dear dear birds around us.
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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