Vik's Gallery:   Australian Magpie (1/4)

PASSERIFORMES: Artamidae

Cracticus tibicen  

The Magpie

"CalLOG'alloo-ay" On a windy day.
Perched on a tree-top high
I pour my notes from a valiant throat;
For cock o' the walk am I!
Defiant, loud, superbly proud,
My song soars to the blue,
A clarion call a challenge to all:
"CalLOG'alloo-ay-calloo!"

I have set the bounds to my feeding grounds;
And here I am the king.
With beak and claw I press my law
On every feathered thing.
Cock o' the walk--no questing hawk,
Proud eagle, crow nor thrush
Stays to defy my battle-cry,
My pinions' whistling rush.

"CalLOG'allay-oo!" When day is new
I fill the scented morn
With a joyful song, loud, sweet and long--
My echoing, hunting horn.
"Calloo, callay!" I greet the day
Throned on a tree-top high.
In my domain I rule, I reign,
Cock o' the walk am I!

The Magpie
by C J Dennis (1876-1938)
The Singing Garden (1935) p.177.