Wildlife Trade

[Roll Call]
A bird in the coat's worth
ten in the bush.
Take one Black-
Breasted Button Quail,
Malleefowl, Freckled Duck,
Squatter Pigeon, Hooded Plover,
Star Finch, Red Goshawk,
Cotton Pygmy Goose, Night
Parrot, Regent Parrot,
Lord Howe Parakeet, Paradise
Parrot (stuffed), Little Tern,
Wood Hen, Double-Eyed Fig Parrot,
Robust Silvereye, Masked Booby,
Red-Lored Whistler, The
Wonderer, Regent Honeyeater,
Grey-Crowned Babbler,
Black Throated Finch, Thick
Billed Grass Wren, Little
Shearwater, White-Bellied Storm
Petrel, Red-Tailed Tropic Bird,
Black Bittern, Square Tailed
Kite, Grey Falcon, Magpie Goose,
Blue-Billed Duck, Sooty
Oystercatcher, Mongolian Plover,
Black Tailed Godwit, Painted
Snipe, Superb Fruit-Dove,
Pink Cockatoo, Glossy Black
Cockatoo, Purple-Crowned
Lorikeet, Swift Parrot, Turquoise
Parrot, Scarlet-Chested Parrot,
Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo,
the Powerful Owl, the Grey Teal,
the Golden Whistler, Gouldian
Finch, Helmeted Honeyeater,
Sooty Owl and Marbled Frogmouth,
the Orange Bellied Parrot,
a Pink Robin and Collared
Kingfisher, Noisy Scrub Bird, the
Fairy-Wren, Emu-Wren, Grass-Wren,
the Pittas, the Tiny Bush and
Rock Wren. Oh, little brown birds.
Add to this, the Silky
Mouse, Desert Mouse, Smoky
Mouse, Mountain Pygmy-Possum,
Long-Footed Potoroo, Northern Quoll,
Bridled Nailtail Wallaby. One Numbat
and Eastern-Barred Bandicoot.
Such rarities you can pack quite
easily with the Broad-Headed
Snake, Stimson's Python,
Fierce Snake, Pale-Headed Snake,
Narrow Banded Snake, White
Snake, the Centralian Blue-
Tongued Lizard and Mallee Worm
Lizard, Southern Corroboree Frog,
Loggerhead Turtle, Grassland
Earless Dragon Western Swamp
Tortoise, Blue Mountains Water
Skink. Don't forget the Green
And Golden Bell Frog (Banjo
Frog, too) just for luck. The Copper
Butterfly, etc. Check! Neatly placed
in your alligator-skin, double-
belted, Hartmann-leather,
silk-lined, false bottom suitcase.

Stephen Oliver

If you've any comments on this poem, Stephen Oliver would be pleased to hear from you.

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