A keen bird fancier, the kind who spends weekends in the bush with binoculars hoping to spot rare species, heard about a place in the mountains where strange hybrids were being bred.

He arranged to visit the aviary and was shown around.

The breeder pointed out a black-and-white bird with patches of pink and grey, the result of crossing a magpie and a galah. “We call it a maglah,” he said.

The next one, brightly coloured with bits of grey, was high up a gumtree and laughing… a cross between a kookaburra and rosella. “We call it a kookella,” the breeder said.

Many other birds were seen and explained. One of them, floating on a pond and quacking, sported beautiful multicoloured plumes…a cross between a pheasant and a duck.

“We can’t work out a name for this one,” the breeder said. “Well… duckant sounds ridiculous.”