Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Cable
1958
Erolia bawdie
July -
so the bird would break the "meech
run" and fly a warp if I got closer.
I followed at 30 paces per minute. She
held pretty steadily to the alternate
sneek-run with greenwing wraps and
squeek call and short flights of 10-15 yds
up to 175 paces. The bird began to break
into "normal" avoidance behaviour
for about 25 paces - upright alert,
posture-quick but short flights with
the two "normal vocalizations" - chit-chit the
"oyit-oyit" call and the "alarm" whistle. Then she
did some more distraction - still keeping
ca 30 yds away, again breaking back
into normal behaviour up to 235 paces,
at which time she suddenly exploded
off into a one mile in sustained flight,
mounted to 60-80 feet and flew back'
to the area where I had first encountered
her. Watched with binoculars. At the end
she gained a little more altitude and
then suddenly stopped abruptly by dawn -
landed to the ground - [illegible]
I went back to the area but could
not find her immediately. I squeaked like
a chick and she immediately appeared
from an unseen quarter behind me.