Bird watcher

"T
I'm not going to school, I hate it!" screamed 
Cyril and, ran out of the house.

His mother, Mrs. Fischer, was helpless. When Cyril 
was younger she would cajole him and sometimes even
force him to go to school. But now Cyril was a wilful
eleven-year-old, and disliked being in a classroom. His
father scolded him often and his mother pleaded with
him, but Cyril continued to stay away from school. 

Today, Cyril's parents were quite embarrassed as
he had created a scene in the presence of Dr. Gopal
Rao, who was staying with them. Dr. Rao had come to
New Zealand all the way from India. 

"I'm sorry, Dr. Rao," Mrs. Fischer said sadly,
"Cyril is so fond of climbing trees and peeking into
birds' nests that he just doesn't want to go to school." 
"Ah, I understand," said Dr. Rao, smiling.
In the evening, while Mr. Fischer was still at work 
and Mrs. Fischer was busy in the kitchen, Dr. Rao and
Cyril had tea together. 

"Cyril, I heard you're fond of birds," Dr. Rao said,
biting into a piece of delicious cake specially baked for
him by Mrs. Fischer. Cyril blushed. 

"Do you know, I too love birds and hated going

to school when I was your age," Dr. Rao continued. 

Cyril was startled. He couldn't believe that an old man 

like Dr. Rao could ever have liked peeking into

birds' nests. But, as Dr. Rao narrated his childhood

adventures Cyril's disbelief turned to admiration. More

impressed was he when he learnt that Dr. Rao had been

specially invited to New Zealand to lecture on birds. 

After tea, Dr. Gopal Rao took Cyril to his room

and showed him several books on birds. Cyril gazed

at the beautiful pictures, for a long time. 

Suddenly he let out a cry, "Oh, I've seen this bird."

"Impossible," said Dr. Rao. "These books show 

rare birds and you can't see any of them here."

But Cyril was sure he had seen this bird, in fact a 

pair of them. "Uncle! I have really seen them. I have

spotted their nest in a huge oak tree." 

Dr. Rao walked up to Cyril and glanced at the book

he was holding. Then, once again, he shook his head

and said, "I'm sure you are making a mistake, Cyril.

The black robin of Chathas Island is one of the rarest

birds. You couldn't have seen any of them here." 

Cyril insisted that he had not made any mistake.

Rare or ordinary he had definitely seen two of them. 

"In that case, can you show them to me?" asked

Dr. Rao. 

"Yes, right now, if you want to."

Dr. Rao hastily put on his coat, pulled out a pair of 

binoculars, and stepped out of the room. Cyril followed

him. 

"Mama, Uncle and I are going to watch birds,"

Cyril shouted from the doorway. 

Mrs. Fischer was in the kitchen. She was so surprised

that she dropped a spoon.By the time she picked it up

and came out, the two had gone.

Dr. Rao kept talking about rare birds as they walked

up to the oak tree. As soon as they were near enough

Cyril said excitedly,"There, that's the nest."

Dr. Rao looked up and saw a small cup-shaped nest

neatly tucked into a fork of the branches. Quickly he

took his binoculars and peered at the nest through the

lenses. 

"I hope your black robins haven't retired already,"

Dr. Rao said his eyes glued to the nest. 

Cyril, too, was trying to see if the black birds were

there. It was getting dark and all the birds were returning

to

their

nests.

Suddenly Dr. Rao mumbled, "Ssh! Keep quiet.

Here comes one." 

In the fading evening light Cyril saw a black bird

prance round the nest. A while later, another hopped

out of the nest. 

"See, didn't I tell you? There are two of them!"

Cyril exclaimed. 

Dr. Rao silently watched the birds, until they went

back to their nest. He looked thoughtful. "You're

right, Cyril, but let's come again tomorrow morning." 

Aftei dinner Dr. Gopal Rao turned to Mrs. Fischer

and said, "If it's okay with you, I'd like to take Cyril

bird-watching again tomorrow morning". 

Mrs. Fischer was so startled, she dropped her

napkin. 

The next day, Dr. Rao and Cyril woke up before

dawn and walked to the oak tree. Cyril was happy

because he had Dr. Rao's spare binoculars with him. 

Soon day broke and the birds began to twitter and

stir out of their nests. The black birds came out too.

Immediately Dr. Rao and Cyril focussed their binoculars

on them. After a while Dr.Rao cried

excitedly,"Hurrah, Cyril! They really are black

robins.Now climb the tree quickly and look into the nest."

Cyril climbed up. "Uncle, there are two eggs," he shouted from the tree-top. 

Dr. Rao beamed happily. He asked Cyril to climb

several trees, peek into other nests and count the

number of eggs in each of them. He noted Cyril's

findings in his thick diary. 

After a few hours Dr. Rao heaved a sigh. "Hmm.

That should be enough. Now we can go back." 

On the way back, they stopped at the village post

office and spent an hour and a half sending telegrams

to various places. Dr. Rao also made a long distance

call. When they finally reached home it was noon and

Mr. and Mrs. Fischer were anxiously waiting for them.

It being the last day of Dr. Rao's stay, Mrs. Fischer had

prepared a special lunch. She was upset because it was

getting cold. 

Dr. Rao ate very little. His mind seemed to be

elsewhere. 

'Maybe, he's anxious about his journey,' Mrs.

Fischer thought. As soon as Cyril finished his second

helping of dessert Dr. Rao said, "Mrs. Fischer, I really

hope you won't mind, but Cyril and I would like to

continue our bird-watching." 

Mrs. Fischer nodded.

"Cyril, you must help me save the birds," Dr. Rao 

said as soon as they stepped out of the house.

"Save the birds?" 

"Yes. What you spotted were the Chathas Island

black robins. Only five of them, three females and two

males are known to be living. They are on Mangare

Island, east of New Zealand. Left to themselves, the

birds will die without multiplying and then there will be

no more black robins on earth." 

"Will our black robins also die?" Cyril inquired

anxiously. 

"No, we won't let them die. We'll save them."

"But how?" 

"We'll steal their eggs and mingle them with the

eggs in other birds' nests. The black robins will then lay

a fresh set of eggs. So we can double the number of

eggs every season." 

"Shall we steal the eggs now?" Cyril asked eagerly.

"Yes. But we'll have to be extremely careful. It 

will be risky to use bare hands. Not only because the

eggs are tiny and delicate but also because damp and

dirty hands can transfer bacteria right into the eggs

through their porous shells." 

Cyril listened with rapt attention. Dr. Rao had, in

the meantime taken out several articles from his knapsack.

He made Cyril wash his hands and dry them.

Next, he gave him some kind of a spoon and a small

container, both rinsed in a disinfectant.

Finally, with the help of his thick diary, he showed

Cyril two nests to which they could transfer the black

robin's eggs. Cyril followed the instructions and gently

placed an egg in each of the two warblers' nests. The

two trees were marked. 

"Now we must pull down the black robin's nest,"

Dr. Rao said. Cyril was horrified. He couldn't believe

his ears. 

Dr. Rao smiled gently and added, "The black robin

will lay again only after building a new nest." 

Relieved Cyril smiled, and ran to the oak. In no

time he was down with the tiny cup-shaped nest.

"I'm going to keep this as a souvenir," he told Dr. Rao,

who was busy packing his knapsack. 

On their way back Dr. Rao said, "I wish I could

stay and see the family of the black bird grow. But I

can't. Cyril, you'll have to do a lot to see this experiment

through.

Of course some of my friends will

soon come and camp here. You'll help them, won't you?"

"Yes," said Cyril. "I'll certainly help them save the black robins."
"We've done enough for this season," Dr. Rao 
explained. "No doubt, they can lay eggs three or four
more times. But we must not tire them out." 
"I get your point," Cyril replied.
Back home Dr. Rao told Mr. and Mrs. Fischer the 
wonderful work Cyril was doing to preserve one of the
rarest birds on earth. 

In the days that followed there were many more
surprises for Mrs. Fischer. They started receiving letters
from bird lovers all over the world. Experts on birds
congratulated them on having a son like Cyril. 
The most pleasant surprise was when they saw
Cyril's photograph splashed across the pages of a
newspaper. A write-up said he had spotted two rare
birds in his village, transferred their eggs and taken
care of them. 

It went on to describe how Cyril had cleaned up

the warbler's nests twice. This had become necessary
as the droppings of the baby black robin did not fall
out of the warbler's small pendant shaped nest. During
cold spells there was danger of the baby black robin
catching a chill and dying. A baby warbler does not
face this danger as nature has given it faecal sacs which
the parent warblers throw away. 

As a result of Cyril's efforts, the article concluded,
there are now more black robins in the world.
That night Mrs. Fischer found Cyril at his desk,
studying. 

"Cyril!" she shouted, "you're studying geography?"
"You needn't be surprised, Mama," Cyril replied.
"If I don't study geography and don't go to school how
can I become an expert on birds?"
Mrs. Fischer was so pleasantly surprised that she
just stood rooted to the spot.