By  RAY POPE

I received a message from my first cousin, Traci Walker, updating me on her Mockingbird and her cat. Since last year the Mockers have tormented Oreo, her cat, dive-bombing and pecking it on its head. I believe the cat would love to turn the tables on the Mocker and invite it to lunch.

We had a very good time at Garr’s this past Saturday as we talked about Bluebirds, Purple Martins and even Bats. I myself would love to get a Bat house where the winged creature of nocturnal bliss could work on eating the insects that escape my daytime favorites. That was a mouthful. It was also nice to have Sheila Smith show up with a friend, whose name I can’t remember, to learn about the birds. Memory loss seems to run rampant in my life since last October's close call with death.

Dear Ken: What happened to Eric Fleming, who played trail boss Gil Favor on “Rawhide”?

Fleming, born Edward Heddy in Santa Paula, Calif., enlisted in the U.S. Navy during WWII and served as a Seabee in a naval construction battalion. An accident at work injured his face, thus he had to undergo extensive plastic surgery. After the war, he studied acting and found work on Broadway, in film and on TV. He was making “High Jungle,” an adventure film in Peru in 1966, when his dugout canoe flipped and he was carried away by the strong current of the Huallaga River and drowned at the age of 41. He had planned to marry his fiancé two days later. Fleming was buried on the grounds of the University of Peru in Lima, Peru. Among his movie credits were “Fright,” “Queen of Outer Space,” “Curse of the Undead” and “The Glass Bottom Boat.”