From my friend Mark Dawson, a birding guide in England, after I told him
the Saga of the Seattle Painted Bunting:

>Going back to the Painted Bunting and the less than helpful gentleman,
>take heart, as a
>story comes to mind of a lady who noticed an "odd looking bird" coming to
>her bird table, she duly told a neighbour who informed her it was
>sufficiently rare(can not remember what Spp) to put out on birdline, anyway
>a few hours later 100s of twitchers were knocking at her door expecting to
>see the ornithological equivalent of the second coming only to be told "I am
>terribly sorry but my cat has just eaten it", so things could have been
>worse!,
Rachel Lawson
Seattle
RachelLawson at softhome.net