Back in Stanley, I asked around about the pen-stealing birds and soon learned two things: that they were called “Johnny rooks”—a rakish nickname from the whaling days—and that they weren’t, generally speaking, held in high regard. A few people said they were vicious pests; many simply called them “cheeky.” I’d heard New Yorkers call city pigeons winged rats, and Texans muttering darkly about urban invasions of great-tailed grackles, but it seemed especially British to accuse a bird of impertinence.
