the sitelle torchepot

The sitelle torchepot is a noisy bird that runs up and down trees. It is often located by its repeated tui-tui-tui call and was first seen in Paris at the Jardin des Plantes in 1946.

While researching the sitelle torchepot in the mediatheque of the Natural History Museum, an old man mistook me for an ornithologist and told me stories about La Camargue with its 400 species of birds. I informed him that despite my pile of books on french birds, I was in fact only reading about one. For a drawing. I was sure he had seen it, they were just outside. I said: tui-tui-tui, he said: Ah oui.

We then tried to find the Sitelle Torchepot in the cabinet of curiosities that we were sitting next to, conclusion= insufficiently exotic. When I got home I learnt some new words from the bird dictionary so I can seem more professional next time.