The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1883-12-05
AN EXTRAORDINARY SIGHT.
A HUGE CAVERN OUT OF WHICH
ISSUED MYRIADs OF BIRDS.

AN EXTRAORDINARY SIGHT.
A HUGE CAVERN OUT OF WHICH
ISSUED MYRIADs OF BIRDS.
Countless Thousands of the Fenfh.
cred Tribe-A Naturalist's Aston.
i.hing Adventures in Colombia
A naturalist just returned from q visit
to South America, told q Sun reporter
about his search for a peculiar bird in
Colombia. The bird is about the size of
Il pigeon, and has a long, heavy, broad,
hooked bill, and is of a brownish chest
nut color, marked with indefinite black
spots. -,
"When l first heard of the bird, said
the bird man, 81 was travelling in a
mountainous part of Colombia, and
one night when | halted in a native
village they gave mc some strange dlsh,
cooked in oil. l asked a native, who
said it came from the oil bird or guacharo.
He furthermore gave me to understand
that the birds were not unlike bottles of
oil: all you had to do was to put a wick
in their mouths and light it, and you had
n lamp. The native had never seen the
bird himself, he said, but bought the oil.
from another man, who belonged to a
tribe away up in the mountains, and
brought it down twice a year.
"You may be sure l inquired about
the guacharO of all the natives met, and
finally l came across Il little village where
the people knew about it.. One man
promised to take me where / could find
| the birds, but he was very reluctant about
it. According to him, the birds were of
ill omcn, and never came out of their
hiding places in the daytime. He said
that they lived in the ground, and that
men who had gone after them never re-
urncd.
THAT settled it with me, and when l
doubled my first offer, he put aside all
scruplcs, and in two days we were Oft
into the interior. At the end of two
days we gave up our mules and began
cutting and smashing through the worst
country for travelling on the globe. The
forest was absolutely impcnctrable. In
some places the lanes or vines formed Il
perfect wall that had to be cut through
unless long dctours were made. | was
tempted more than once to give 1t up,
but we kept on, and finally, after nearly
Il weeks work, reached the mountains,
among which the birds were supposed to
live. Our camp was formed at the loot
of a low cliff, against which huge boul-
ders were piled; the tent was formed OF
bouehs thrust into the ground and palm
leaves thrown over the top.
81 remember We lay down at dusk, be-
ing tired out. must have fallen asleep
directly, as | was awakened by the native
grasping me by the shoulder. started
to my feet, thinking that | had either
gone mad or was dreaming. 1t was dark,
and all about was the most terrific roaring
and scrccching mortal man ever heard.
| The only thing l can compare 1t to is a
hurricane, without the wind. Now there
was a wild roar, then a weird shrek, fol-
lowed by a low moaning that grew louder
and louder until it reached an awful eli
max, and then died away, to return again
and again. I can hear it now" said the
naturalist, taking out a highly-colorcd
Spanish bandanna. land it makes me
warm to think of it. Well, I was para
lived for about a minute, and the native
was simply knocked out of time, but
grabbed him, and in q moment he
gaspcd out, 'Guacharo.' Then it came
to me that we were among the birds,
and, picking up my gun, l fired at
random, directly up. Several birds fell
within a few feet of the shed. The birds
actually filled the air in countless thou
sands. You may have seen the great
pigeon roosts in Kentucky, where they
break down great trees. Well, this dis
counted the pigeon roosts in every re-
spcct. I thoughta at first l couldn't stand
it. | sat up until one o'clock, and then
| the noise let upand the birds disappeared
in some almost miraculous manner The
birds | shot told the oil story at once.
They were so fat that the oil could be
fairly squeezed out. I took IN old piece
| of flannel and proved the lamp story then
and there by thrusting it. into the bird.
1t readily lighted and gave a clear blue
and ycllcw flame.
Il suspected that the birds were like
bats, living in caves, and that we had
campcd in close proximity to such an un-
dcrground roost. Duringthc rush | had
imagined several times that | heard a
rumbling sound under foot, and l was
correct, as was proved the next day,
when 1 found about 300 feet from the
Camp thu entrance of a cave. Our camp
had been right in the path of the birds,
| which rushed out every evening at dusk.
| The cave entrance was about twenty feet
across, and covered with feathers and
guano. I tell YOU it took nerve to 90 in,
but, arming ourselves with clubs and
lighting material, we pushed on. For some
twenty yards it was easy enough, but
then the path suddenly turned abruptly
downward, changing our direction. and
a walk of a hundred feet led us into Il
large hall, perhaps one hundred and fifty
feet high. Up to this time | had only
used a small bull's-cye light that | al
ways carried, and as we saw no birds
thought l would have an illumination, SO
l set off a red light. Well, sir, there
came such a laundering scream and vol
lev of echoes that l thought the whole
Andean chain was falling on us. The
native went on his knees, and / felt like
following suit. In fact, / did fall flat a
moment later to avoid the rush. The
light showed a most astonishing spec
taclc. Every ~crevice Of the wall was
filled with birds and nests. AS the birds
tapped their wings the entire cave seemed
walled with them, while the air became
every moment more dcnscly filled, so
| that. as 1 said, I was forced to lie down
and press my fingers in my ears. They
dashed at us through the light, striking
with their wings. At first l knocked
them down by the score, but Il regiment
of men could not have fought against
them, so l literally laid low until the bird
storm blew over.
eve sat there over an hour before we
vcntured to move, and then, the native
refusing to 60, l pushed further in and
saw that the cave was a monster breeding
place for the birds. Their rushcs at us
were evidently to protect their young,
and, though it seems incredible that so
small Il bird could cndanger Il human
life. | have no doubt that they would
beat Il man down if he stood up, and con-
fuse him so that he would never get out,
and | understood that the story told me
about men who had gone in the cave and
never came out might ws.l be true. So
returned to the native, Wild was de-
moralizcd, and we made our way out into
daylight, thankful to escape