June• 2019 | 19little fella. It was such a splendid
structure.”
But the very next morning, to
my amazement, there was another
castle floating in the air. The mini
architect had come back to work.
Not Twigging On
LISA COOPER
My husband, Brett, is what you
call a pigeon fancier. He keeps 20
king pigeons – a very large breed of
pigeon. They are also very smart and
entertaining. One day last spring, he
witnessed a particularly funny sight.
We keep the pigeons in a converted
caravan, complete with nest boxes.
The male pigeons often hop outside
to collect small twigs, as building a
beautiful nest is imperative to keep
the female pigeon happy.
One pigeon, Red Checky, was busy
hopping outside, finding the ideal
twig, then hopping back inside and
placing it in his beautiful nest.
Another bird, Blue Barby, was
watching carefully. He also wanted
to build a nest, but he is lazy. Every
time the industrious bird hopped
out, the lazy one would sneak into
the unguarded nest and raid it for
twigs, all the while keeping a close
eye out for Red Checky’s return.
The performance went on for
some time, with busy Red Checky
wondering why his nest wasn’t
getting any bigger, while lazy Blue
Barby easily built his nest with
stolen goods.
Morning Inspection
PAMELA COOTE
Our Bengal cat, Trevor, is about ten
years old and was given to us four
years ago. Trev is handsome and
intelligent and obviously thinks his
doddery 80-year-old owner needs
looking after. He protects me from
rats, mice and cane toads, which I’m
terrified of. Every morning he waits
outside one of the sheds for me to
unlock it. He casually wanders in
and inspects everything; carefully
sniffing newspapers, grubby boxes
and, standing on his hind legs, sniffs
the shelves. When he’s satisfied, Trev
wanders out, rubs against my leg to
give me the ‘all clear’ and races to the
next shed to do the same all over again.
After he has finished his routine of
inspecting the sheds, Trev follows it up
with his favourite breakfast and
a nice cat nap.