THE KOOKABURRA

Hokitika Guardian, 20 May 1929, Page 8

THE KOOKABURRA

BIRD FALLS FROM CMACK. RAIDS IX POULTRY YARDS. SYDNEY, May 2. It lu >ks ;is though Lliiit typically i\ 11st rjii i nil bird, the nua.in't-kiokmg kookaburra, or laughing jackass, is in iminineiiL dimmer, at least in Sydney, of falling from grace as one ol the nosl leva ole of Australia’s fetliorod lamilv.

“.Jaeko,” if appears, lias revealed a penchant for chicken, and has suddenly brought Hawn upon his head the wrath of people whose poultry yards it has Been raiding. Other people are wr.ting to the newspapers in stout defence of the Bird with the shrill laugh, out, taking the majority of eorresponenfs. the case against the kookaburra i.oks somewhat black. It, was 1 elt that if might be merely an isolated case when llie laughing jackass robbed 1 ooultry yard on the blue .Mountains of some chickens, but Die laugh now • cents, to ho on fli.se who have chainLined its lovable innocence, for, since i.lii>ii. it. has been indicted with practically all the crimes in the calendar ol bird life. ’

One man. for example, reports* the loss of numerous va liable ducklings as a result of (In* audacious lorays ol “,lac.to.’’ An ,ther tells the story of Low one of these birds swooped down and seized goldfish Ir.m a householder's aquarium, and yet another, of the |... ...I squawks of a chicken in a suburban yard when it was carried olf. \’ow that “da ko” seems to have been unmasked, and revealed in its true collars, it is not improbable that an agitation will arise for .the repeal of the aw which pmteefs Ibis bird. Now that the public has been given much evidence of the ferocious and bloodthirsty proc’ivil ies of the laughing iirkass, and of its epicurean taste for chicken especially, il is beginning to feel that much of the affection bestowed upon the bird, mainly because ol' Is joyous laugh, has been misplaced. It looks now as though there is a .Maehiavelian, subtle note in its laugh.