The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-04-23
PAPUA'S BIRD OF DEATH
1T IS CALLED 1S.E RPIR NDooB,
AND is ALMOST EXTINCT.

Death Surely Follows the Fcathered
Biped's Bite-The Poison Lies in
It's Beak
Rev. r. NJ. Masterson, who has kt |
returned from New Guinea, where he has |
been for the last seven years as mission
ary, in a recent conversation with Phila- |
deiphia Times correspondent told of
most remarkable bird he had seen in that
country. The bird, which is called by
the natives the Rpir N'Doob, meaning
the bird of death, produces by its bite Il
madness ending in death. They are very
rare, and are fast disappearing as the
country becomes more civilized.
Mr.. Masterson had no opportunity of
personally observing the effects of its
bite, but was credibly informed that the
victim is almost instantly seized with
violent pains in the member bitten, which
pains soon spread over the entire body,
but are especially eXcruciating in the
bowels. Loss of sight follows, and rush
of blood to the head. The limbs culver
convusively, and a white, offensive froth
breaks out of the hAuth. A sort of frenzy
takes possession of the sufferer, in which
he shrieks and hOwls, occasionally laugh
ing uproariously, and capering to his own
chanting or singing, until his strength is
exhausted and he sinks to the ground,
when he becomes unconscious and rigid
in every limb, with his teeth firmly locked
as in tetanus.
Mr.. Masterson describes the rpir as
small and about the size of common
pigeon, but of slenderer, longer build,
and of peculiar gray plumage lacking
entirely the glossy appearance of feathers.
Its tail is extraordinarily long and runs to
a sharp point ending in a blood red tip.
No other color is to be seen when it is
not in flight, but the extended wings
show bright yellow beneath, sometimes
varied with an intense lustreless black.
Its bill is very powerful, though thin
and long, and is perfectly straight, ex-
cept at the end, where it curves sharply
with an abrupt dip. The feet are coal
black and resembles somewhat those of
the African parrot, but have very sharp
nails curving almost into fish. hooks.
This singular bird is to be found only
on the reedy shores of the low-lying
lakes of New Guinea, which are often
only immense stagnant ponds Or marshes
The eggs are laid in the Shiny, moist
earth close to the waters edge, and are
most beautifully variegated, being of a
rich crimson, dappled with blue, gold
white, but are very small and perfectly
round. The male of the rpir n'doob has
no note, but the hen, which. is consider
ably the larger of the two, givR pc
culiar, long-drawn cry, which has a
piercing, melancholy sound, but which
is repeated at short intervals but continu-
ously.
The rpir being very awkward and ca
pable of only short flights of two or
three yards, can be caught without diff
ficulty, but is let severely alone by the
Papuans, who say that no one has ever
survived its bite, there being no anti
dote, and death always ensuing within an
hour or two, when the body shortly
turns purple and becomes much swollen,
decomposition speedily setting in
Mr.. Masterson succeeded in snaring
one of the birds and confined it in a
cage, intending to bring it home as a Gu
riosity, but it pined away in captivity,
literally starving itself to death, as it re-
fused to partake of any food whatsoever.
Unacquainted himself with the art of tax
idermy, the missionary found no one in
that country capable of preserving it for
him, so he was forced to throw away the
specimen.
Mr. Masterson regrets that his knowl
edge of natural history was so slight as to
forbid of his learning in what the birds
venom lies, but gives as his opinion that
its bill is hollow and charged with the
deadly poison. This poison seems given
merely as a means of defense, for, as
nearly as the gentleman could tell from
his limited opportunities OF observing it,
the bird is herbivorous, feeding on the
tender young shoots of the reeds and
water flags.