REMARKABLE BIRDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21277, 2 September 1932, Page 8

REMARKABLE BIRDS

FEATHERED " WATCHDOGS «

SYDNEY DUCK ON GUARD IS COCKATOOS AND PARROTS || [from our own correspondent] : S . SYDNEY. Aug. 25 | The story has just come to light of m Muscovy duck in a Sydney suburb which 8 for 14 years, has taken the place of 'JIB watchdog. It keeps all strangers away I from the farm. 'lt is claimed to bej jUts t If another of the tribe of feathered guards P which have been rendering such service Hf since cackling geese saved ancient R ome II from the barbarians. In countless other instances intruders fe have learned to respect the sagacity and vigilance of these protectors of lif e ail( j property, who have often been shown not S unworthy to rank with the dog. The classic case in Australian history f§[ is provided by Harry Power, the dapper f •Jkmght of the road, whose depredation! covered a wide range in the Murray die. ; I tricfc in the 'fifties. It was quite in keep. || ing with bis character of beau bushrang M II that he should letain a peacock to v;aro P him of strangers approaching his Jbil! fast, || ness. Screech of the Peacock The mild screech of the peacock 8 quently sent Power scurrying for his life Stand when he was finally taken he said to S the police: ' 'How did you get by those 111 dogs and the peacock ? Nobody has ever If passed them before." r II That bird was an outlaw, but the work tl of another thief got a shock one Christ- If mas some years ago during a stealing 1 epidemic, when he entered a Bankstown 1 fowlyard and was attacked by a game I rooster, being badly wounded about the 1 face. Talking birds, more than any others, <$ appear to make the best guards. The I" owner of a station near UraJla', New U South Wales, has a white cockatoo vfhich | every day takes up a position by the I gate, and, when any person enters, calls | out "Shut the gate," in language more II compelling than polite. A bird of the same fii species gave the alarm when the old I; Crown Studios building in George Street | was destroyed by fire in 1918, and st f. least was saved itself. It was, too, a if. white cockatoo, whose screeching brought Ij neighbours running and put to flight.! fjj burglar who was going through ~a Rose jS Bay home while the occupants were gj absent. Parrots Guard a Shop Thieves have learned to be wary of fr] garrulous cockatoos and parrots, and he I would be a wily crook who could pass | unobserved two Mexican parrots in a Pitt 1 Street shop. Never yet have they failed f to cry out, "Shop" in raucous chorufl | when the door is opened. ' i Magpies, too, have proved very sus- | ceptible to training as house guards, and | they can be very dangerous, with their 9 fierce, swooping attack. Several cases have | come to police notice in recent years of | thieves being disturbed by magpies with | the cry of "Man here." || A Canberra constable adopted one last | year, who set out to keep everybody else I away house. Unfortunately, this I magpie was more forceful than dis- p criminating, and, faced with the alterna- p tive of becoming a hermit, the constable 8 had to remove the bird. H