AN EMU OMELETTE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22491, 27 August 1938, Page 21

AN EMU OMELETTE

[By WHIM WHAM.]

An Emu sits in the Auckland Zoo, An Emu sits in Wellington too; Each has tucked between his legs A number of large and blue-green eggs. The anxious hens And the citizens Follow keenly the annual match: How many eggs will the Emus hatch?

The envious cities watch and wait, Grimly the Emus concentrate; The Auckland bird has proudly straddled Fourteen eggs — but are they addled? Wellington's six May bear the chicks. An epic struggle, a classic match: How many eggs will the Emus hatch?

Forgotten the jealous squabble and fuss For the Empire air-mail terminus: A hundred years of rivalry Fixed on an Eniu's progeny! That large, absurd And ponderous bird Trained for a representative match: How many eggs will the Emus hatch?,

That the male emu at the Wellington Zoo is at present sitting on six large blue-green eggs, contributed by its mate, does not impress the Auckland Zoo authorities . . . they point out that the Auckland Zoo s male bird has been sitting on 14 equally large and equally blue-green eggs .It appears that the breeding of the Auckland and Wellington emu families is developing into an annual competition.—Report in "The Press."

How will Wellington bear the shock, Supposing the Auckland Emu cock Should rise one day in the Emu pen A fond and feathered Father of Ten? The drums will roll And the Carillon toll A dismal tune to a mournful catch: How many eggs did the Emus hatch?

Everyone thinks the common Pun A coarse and vulgar sort of fun: But the Emu battle — what temptation To call it civic Emulation! A subject fit For childish wit, This freakish, fatuous breeding match: Hnw matin epes will the Emus hatch?.