As I said, I was counting the parrots when I spied the hitherto unidentified lizard. It was green and about seven inches long not counting its stumpy tail. The area surrounding its mouth was bright yellow and the patches around its eyes were deep blue. Despite the pretty colours it was a little scary. I didn’t know if it would snap at me or was poisonous or what. I thought that if I captured a specimen I might get the right to name the species. I would name it after my late mother Marjorie. I needed a box to put it in, so I scampered quickly back to my tent which was only about five minutes away.
Upon my return the lizard had gone. It had been sitting sunning itself on a rock. I got a long stick and began gently swishing the surrounding long grass back and forth in the hope of spying the specimen. And there it was! In the beak of a Purple Spur-Winged Parrot sitting on a low tree branch. The parrot swallowed it whole.
I was furious. My chance of fame in the field of Herpetology had gone out the door. I had to continue to count the parrots for officialdom otherwise I wouldn’t get paid, so I finished the task.
In the end I was able to report the sad news that there were only seven Purple Spur-Winged Parrots left.
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