My husband asked me a question today.
"Why don't we ever see a baby lbis?" (or would they be called baby chicks?)
The Australian White lbis is a wading bird also known as the "Sheep Bird".
ln flight-flocks of white lbis form a distinctive V shape like airplanes
on maneuver.
Guess what?- l have just found out young birds are similar to adults but have there necks covered with black feathers.
.
There is also an African lbis that is sacred, a beautiful bright pink bird the colour of a Flamingo.
America has a white and a crested lbis.
My husband remembers the lbis well from when he was a small boy of 8 years.
l have mentioned in previous blogs that l would feature an article now and then from my husbands book of memoirs, called "
A Small Boy from ltaly".
He was 8 years old when he came to Australia. He didn't know he would be just as cold and hungry in Australia as he was in ltaly! They often tried to catch an lbis to eat but they where always too fast for them.
This is a part of a chapter from his book called,
"School Days"
l had many bad days at school. We would walk half an hour to school every morning and half an hour back home again in the afternoon. Before we left one morning papa gave me two shillings to buy a packet of broken biscuits to bring home after school.
As soon as the home bell rang, Fil, Ciro and l went down the street and bought the biscuits. We made our way back past the church to head home but we were ambushed. Three bully boys stopped us and started calling us names. l knew what the words meant because I had been teased and cornered many times, but never as bad as this day.
They hit me in the face and my nose bled. The boys knocked me to the ground and continued to hit me. My shirt was torn and they took our bag of buscuits.
After they stole the biscuits, they ran off like the cowards they were. Fil ,Ciro and l started walking home without the biscuits and l knew l would be in big trouble as soon as l got home.
On the way back we had to pass a swamp. l spotted some lbis that looked an easy catch, so l waded into the swamp up to my knees to try and grab one. l thought that if l caught one to take home, my mother could cook it and that might make up for not having the biscuits.
l got really close and almost caught one but it took off and l tripped over and fell in the water. l decided the birds were not as easy a catch as l thought they were and we kept walking home.
When we passed a pear orchard, l snuck in and stole 6 pears, put them in my satchel and hoped that they would be good enough to make up for the loss of the biscuits.
l arrived home all wet with a bloody nose, swampy shoes and a torn shirt. l got in trouble for fighting and for ruining my only shirt.
We never did have an lbis for a meal!
