A Confounding Mimicry
This sign shows a page from the fictional travelogue, displaying an early photograph of the 'Blue-black Cackleback,' a bird our fictional scientists prove is a fake. In fact, the artists themselves faked this photograph, using a dyed, vintage Bird of Paradise purchased at an Argentinian antique shop and a pair of Northern Flicker wings found desiccated in the Indiana Dunes. The accompanying text reads:
A claim was made in the national papers that the source of the mysterious calls had been discovered. But upon our examinations, we found the man to be a fraud. Having stitched several tropical species together into a rather gruesome specimen, the forger called this his “Blue-black Cackleback,” claiming that not unlike the barnacle geese of ancient times, that these birds emerged fully-formed from the ferns themselves.
Se afirmó en los periódicos nacionales que se habían descubierto los orígenes de los cantos misteriosos. Pero basados en nuestras pruebas, nos dimos cuenta que éste hombre es un fraude. Después de haber juntado varias especies tropicales para formar una nueva especie horripilante, la cual el falsificador llamó “Cackleback Azul-negro,” reclamó que como los gansos percebe de la antigüedad, estas aves surgieron totalmente formadas a partir de los mismos helechos.