Veerman
Don't you ever ridicule me again.
John K. Layton
Hi John,
Now that wins the prize as an exercise in
lateral thinking! Actually a funny answer. It could be true. Is the
quote "Perhaps it's an attempt to attempt to dissuade others from
approaching too closely", a suggestion that some birds do this in
an attempt to dissuade others from approaching too closely to their
nest? Or is the quote a suggestion as to why some birds attack
something that looks reptilian as a behaviour to keep other birds away from
the thing they are attacking? The latter is how I first understood your message
but I can't see how that would work and it escapes me to be able to
make any logical connection that is consistent with
that idea.
Beruldsen's book indicates that the Paradise
Riflebird includes shed snakeskin in the outer walls of their nest, but
that is an unusual behaviour and a long way from Wagga and Canberra. Snakes and
big lizards (goannas) are predators of birds and their nests and I'd
say the fear of things that look reptilian is as simple as
that.
Philip
