“There is no custom the wizened traveler observes more religiously than the fear of open sky. Most keep to the brambleways, for the protection they offer is unmatched. Long grass is better than short grass or none, but its cover is dealt by a duplicitous hand, given in equal measure to men and his hunter alike.
Of swooping things which haunt open fields and woody margins, the bluethief is perhaps the most practiced killer of men. It falls deftly upon those caught in its sights, and vanishes them on the wing in three bites or less. It will readily snatch any body with a heartbeat half its size or less and at all larger than a speck. Though it prefers prey which it need not expend much effort to subdue, and can kill easily with a well placed bite, it has been seen to harry large songmice from the air, shredding their wings and so permanently grounding them.
A well-named beast, the bluethief is a significant pest of arthroculture, for more than any warm-blooded prey does it love to feast upon insects. Well-tended grounds established near the open or semi-open landscapes it prefers, should they produce in great enough abundance, will inevitably be visited by such vicious callers. Abundance, for all we court it, is a fickle thing, and wealth a restless nest. Whether by shrewd paw or savage tooth, it will spread itself before it grows heavy.”
- Shishwii Itwitwii, Notes from the Psisireip Expedition, Year 1, Goldgray Moon 12
Bluethieves are serial monogamists, coming together in pairs each spring to raise their whelps. Two to five soft shelled, curly-tailed eggs are laid in two clutches per year, the first in spring and the second in summer. Nest sites are selected in hollows and cavities in sparse woodlands, meadows, or the margins between, but never in fully forested habitat. Nests are furnished with plush moss, leaves, and grass, and stocked abundantly with the bodies of prey. Prolific hoarders, bluethieves maintain multiple larders throughout their territories regardless of season. So jealously do they defend these larders that males of the species forgo migration, spending the long winter dedicated to their defense while the females seek more tropical climes.
Like other lantern-eggers, bluethieves will retrieve and relocate their eggs should they be discovered by a predator or otherwise threatened, a strategy which is exceptionally effective against crawling threats like tubesnakes, but less-so against more volant adversaries capable of giving chase. In such cases, bluethief pairs act in tandem to protect their eggs, with one parent, usually the more aggressive female, harassing the predator while the other spirits the eggs to a temporary safehold.
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