Duration 3.14

Erhaus Bewler Falluper: "Starting at the buzzer, in thirty seconds, name for me as many birds as you can think of."

Astra Fallcas: "Great northern diver, red-throated diver, black-throated diver, bean goose, barnacle goose, red-breasted goose, snow goose, pink-footed goose..."

Astra Fallcas appeared as a very responsive interviewee in Falluper's ornithological survey filmed some eighteen months before the Violent Unknown Event.

Astra Fallcas: "Whimbrel, curlew, redshank, greenshank, marsh sandpiper, terek sandpiper..."

It has proved difficult to interview Astra again, for he has disappeared. Everything points to his having gone to earth. 

In a hospital opthalmic test after the Violent Unknown Event, Astra amazed his examiners with his ability to recognize three-dimensional shapes in almost total darkness, but they noticed his ability did not extend to written letters.

Erhaus Bewler Falluper: "Starting at the buzzer, in thirty seconds, name for me as many birds as you can that start with the letter B."

Astra Fallcas: "Blackbird, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, bobolink, black vulture..."

Astra was an experienced speleologist and a keen ornithographer. Through the VUE it seems he combined these interests to identify himself with the Caprimulgiformes, the birds that flew at dusk or twilight, and a year after the VUE he disappeared on a night ferry to Le Havre. He'd taken his camping equipment, his savings, his maps, a supply of food and a cassette tape-recorder. For three years Astra's sister received picture-postcards from around the world, all of which featured cave-systems. Then came a last postcard from Peru to the effect that Astra had found a colony of guacharo, or oilbirds, at San Luis Rey, and was preparing a paper for the WSPB on the echo-location sensibility in birds.

Erhaus Bewler Falluper: "Starting at the buzzer, in thirty seconds, tell me as much as you can about the BITTERN."

Astra Fallcas: "Well, the bittern is one of the Ardeiformes, Botaurus stellaris. This particular bittern in the English species Botaurus stellaris stellaris, is basically a crepuscular animal, which is why it's not seen all that much..."

Five years ago Astra's sister, and three of Astra's former caving friends, went to Peru to see if they could find him. They spent four months in the cave-systems of Tualito, searching, asking local people, and leaving provisions and equipment at useful cave landmarks. They also left tape-cassettes of some of Astra's favourite music. But with no result. Some twenty-four hours before they were due to return to England, Astra's sister was in the Castcatapel cavern at Tualito when she heard the Bird List Song echoing along a deep cave system. 

She was convinced that Astra was responsible for, characteristically, the treble frequencies of the recording were accentuated, the instrumental backing to the song had been tuned out and only the high-pitched female voice was audible.