Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Chup, Chup, pee-ole .... .pee-yule, pee-ole.
This time it was on the neck. He jumped into the air and ran for 10
feet before stopping. He then ran to join Nova who was at the oval
lawn, still saying; pee-ole, pee-yule.......
This bird seems never to come to the end of his vocabulary. He
was located this time by hearing this phrase down below in the orchard.
I followed it up very carefully expecting to find a new bird, and while
listening intently to get the direction, Brownie stepped out from under
a bush and uttered it . Perhaps pee-ole or pee-yule is his name for
"the" fly!
4:10 P.M. Rhody, now that he is free, is more entertaining than ever,
and is proving a fine motion picture actor, giving plenty of opportunities for interesting scenes. If I had more skill and experience I
could get some remarkable pictures. As it is, some I took this afternoon may turn out to be fair. This is what he did in front of the
camera, some of which I got; the time involved being about three-quarters of an hour:
As the meat had just disappeared in the cage, I knew he was not far
far away. Search disclosed him on top of it--where I did not think to
look at first. He then moved over to the magpie section and teased
them through the roof. He came down and entered the cage and got meat
that had just been put there. On his way out he teased the magpies some
more, then dusted, then a long drink at the mortar. He then
retired to the shade to cool off (Temp. 82). I had correctly anticipated
each
all of these moves, and then thought the next one would be to go to
a certain bench in the garden nearer the house, so I moved the camera
there. He came shortly and posed about 20 feet from me, then caught
sight of a butterfly which he picked out of the air in a whirlwind of
motion which was too fast for me. However, he next spied a clump of
dry gladiolus leaves, stalked them, seized one in his bill, tore it