Aristotle's Eyeballs

Meanwhile, Gaius and Kierkegaard have set up a hide with tussocks to sit on.

Ideally, we should not sit on tussocks, says Gaius.

But these are so well placed, says Kierkegaard, who chose them.

Indeed, says Gaius. And we may be here for some time.

Some time passes.

How rare are these emu-wrens? asks Kierkegaard.

Very rare, says Gaius. Especially here.

There are more elsewhere? says Kierkegaard.

Seventy two percent of them are found in the Deep Creek Conservation Park, says Gaius.

Why didn't we go there? asks Kierkegaard.

There should be more here now, says Gaius. This habitat was degraded, but of recent years there have been efforts to restore it.

By people like Paloma, says Kierkegaard. What type of seedlings was she planting?

Mount Compass oak bush, it looked like, says Gaius.

Very nice, says Kierkegaard.

He leans back in the afternoon sunshine, forgetting that he is sitting on a tussock.

Oops. He leans forward again.

Tussocks, says Gaius. They tend to keep you alert.

There is a rustling in the bulrushes. A cracking sound. Some whacks.

It can only be Terence.

It is.

Guess what! cries Terence.

You have broken several bulrushes, with a stick, says Gaius. I hope it wasn't on purpose.

It was only on purpose because I couldn't get through, says Terence.

You could have come through the gap we made earlier, says Kierkegaard.

Terence looks. Lily and Alexander-Red-Hook are coming through the gap they made earlier.

That's their gap, says Terence. They were too slow, so I made a new one. That's because......guess what!

What? asks Gaius.

Wait, says Kierkegaard. What you said doesn't make sense. If they were too slow, they were behind you, so nothing was stopping you from coming through the gap we made earlier.

I've got a stick, says Terence.

I suggest you put it down, says Gaius, and tell us what you have come bursting through the bulrushes to tell us.

I spotted two E-mews! says Terence.

How do you know they were emus... I mean emu-wrens? asks Gaius. Describe them.

They couldn't talk properly and they thought Alexander-Red-Hook was a spider! says Terence.

Tail feathers? says Gaius.

She's a CRAB, says Terence. I mean a parrot, but she doesn't have feathers.

The emus, says Gaius.

Fortunately Lily is more observant.

Gray-brown, streaked with black on the top half, light brown underneath, a blue throat and some blue round the eyes, says Lily. Six upright tail feathers. And they ran through the low vegetation like mice do.

Aristotle's eyeballs! cries Gaius. That's them!  (He is excited)