This morning I heard a commotion in the garden and saw a neighbourhood cat scampering across the yard holding an adult Magpie in her maw. The magpie remained mute, gripped at the base of the neck and facing downwards. Common Blackbirds flittered around giving racchety alarm calls while a pair of Magpie Larks made short, vocal forays from power cables and a group of House Sparrows hopped along branches twittering madly.
I yelled at the cat and she stopped at the base of a 1.5 m fence, crouched and sprang to the top still holding her victim. But in gaining purchase atop the fence she dropped the bird which flew off before hitting the ground and perched in a tall eucalypt a couple of backyards away.
I looked over the fence and saw the cat crouched on the ground staring in the direction of the magpie and emitting a continuous growl. I grabbed a handful of medlars from a nearby tree and hurled them at her. (What else can one do with stupid medlars?) However, the imperious brute completely ignored my volley.
Then Dopey, the neighbour’s Golden Labrador, trundled towards her and she zipped back under the fence into my yard. But in escaping the dog she was confronted by the wolf and sped homewards as a windfall apple bounced off her nefarious nether regions.
I trust the magpie survives to live for many more seasons.
John K. Layton
Holt.
