Oozlum bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Oozlum bird, also spelled Ouzelum, is a legendary creature found in Australian and British folk tales and legends. Some versions have it that, when startled, the bird will take off and fly around in ever-decreasing circles until it manages to fly up itself, disappearing completely, which adds to its rarity.[1] Other sources state that the bird flies backwards so that it can admire its own beautiful tail feathers, or because while it does not know where it is going, it likes to know where it has been.[2]
A variant of the oozlum, possibly a mutation, is the weejy weejy bird which has only one wing which causes it to fly in tighter, faster, smaller circles until it disappears up its own fundament.
The bird was the subject of the 1970 film Carry On Up The Jungle. There was also a running gag in an episode of the radio comedy, The Navy Lark ("NANA", series 15 episode 2, from 16 November 1975) that Lt Commander Murray (Stephen Murray) did not know what the Oozlum bird was. In that episode Sub Lieutenant Phillips (Leslie Phillips) suggested that when young, Oozlum birds fly straight, and it is only when they turn left that the trouble starts.
