Nebraska advertiser., 1877-05-17
THE LEOPARD OF THE AIR.

buc CEitb Oi - DdDy anu saw Cbiit
. carried up into the sky by one ofthest
guanionieps. The baby had beer
laid on the ground; an d the guanioni
en-, whose eyes never miss anything
and which had not been noticed soar
ing above our heads, pounced on it,
prey, and laughed at US as he rose and
flew to distant part of the forest
Then Querlaoun showed me fetioh
partly made of two huge claws of thi:
bird. What tremendous things these
talons were! how deep they could 60
into the flesh !
Then came the wonderful story OF
the very great strength of the bird
The people were afraid of them and
were compelled to be careful of their
babies. These grand eagles do not
feed on fowls, they are too small game
for them. Monkeys are what they
like best; they can watch them as
they float over the top of the trees of
the forest but sometimes the monkeys
get Sne better or them.
People had better not try to get
hold Of the guanionien young if they
want to keep their sight, said Gambo,
for. as sure as we live, the old bird
will pounoe upon the man that touch
es its young
For long time heard the people
talking of the guanionien, but had
never yet had glimpse of one. Now
looking up again, saw several of
them. How high theywere At times
they would appear to be quite still in
the air at other times they would soar
They were so high that 1 do not see
how they could possibly see the trees !;
every thing must have been in a haze
TO them monkeys. of course, could
not be seen. They were, no doubt,
amusing themselves and wonder if
they tried to see how near they could
go to the sun. Some at times flew so
high that lost sight ofthem.
In the afternoon thought I would
ramble round. / took q double-bar-
rel smooth-bore gun and loaded one
side with bullet In case should see
. large game the other barrel Iloaded
with shot No. 2. Then 1 carefully
plunged into the woods till I reached
the banks of stream and there heard
the cry of the mondi (CoEo6us ,SatdnuS)
which is one ofthe largest monkeys of
these forests. From their shrill cries /
thought there might be at least half a
dozen. 1 was glad, indeed, that had
one barrel loaded with big shot. If
the mondis were not too far off
wou Id be able to get shot and kill
one.
L advanced very cautiously until l
got near to them. 1 could see their
big bodies, long tails. and long, jet
black shining hair. What handsome
beasts they were! What a nice look
ing muf their skins would make. I
thought.
Just as was considering which of
them would fire at, 1 saw some big
thing. like shadow, suddenly come
down upon the tree. Then 1 heard
the Tapping of heavy wings, and also
the death cry of a poor mondi. Then
! saw huge bird, with breast spot
ted somewhat like leopard, raise it.
self slowly into the air, carrying the
monkey In Its powerful finger-like tai
ons. The claws of one leg were fast
in the upper part of the neck of the
monkey ; so deep were they in the
flesh that they were completely bur-
led, and few drops of blood fell on
the leaves below. The other leg had
its claws quiet deep into the back of
the monkey. The left leg was kept
higher than the right, and l could see
that the great strength of the bird was
used at that time to keep the neck and
also the back ofthe victim from mov-
ing. The bird rose higher and high
er, the monkeys tell swayed to and
fro, and then both disappeared. 1t
was gusnionien. It's prey was no
doubt taken to some big tree where it |
could be devoured.
The natives cay that the first thing |
the guanionien does is to take out the |
eyes Of the monkeys they catch. But
there must be fearful struggle, for
these monkeys are powerful beasts and |
DO not die at the eagles will. There |
must be great trial of strength, for. |
II the monkey is not seized at an exact |
place on the neck, be can turn his |
head, and then infiicts a fearful bite |
on the breast of the eagle or on his
neck or leg which disables his mcst
terrible enemy, and then both falling
meet their death.
/ looked on without firing, The |
monkeys seemed paralyzed with fear
when the eagle came down upon them
and did not move until the bird of prey
had taken one of their number and
decamped. When looked for them
they had fled to parts unknown to
me In the forest. was looking so in
tently at the eagle and its prey that
for while had forgotten the mon
keys. / do not wonder at it, for mon
keys I could see often, but it is only
once in a great while that such a .
scene as witnessed could be seen by
q man. It was grand, and I won !
iered not that the natives called the ,
yuanionien the leopard of the air. r
Paul du CtaiLIu. 8
A man on Pond street went down 10 {
Uo-t- hankrunt sale the othnr =