Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-10-02
IT GROWS FAT ON FLIES.
THE SPANISH FLY RAISES A
BLISTER AT A TOUCH.
Yet This bird Thrlves on Them and De-
We. ops into Table Luxury OF the
Frat Class Eaten,
Always Wanted.

"You would scarcely suppose that
bird which fattens itself on an insect
that will raise blister on your flesh
almost as quick as coal of fire will
would be much OF table luxury,
would youP" inquired the learned
grocer OF Eighth avenue OF n. Y.
Sun reporter as he hooked "A mackerel
out of the kit for consumer.
/ Few people up north ever heard of
the bird, ! guess. much less ever tast-
ed one, but every one knows the Span
ish fly. A fly blister used TO be as
common as collie, and some folks used
10 say that it was easy to loco any one
IL you could get him to eat anything
that Spanish fly had been put into.
But maybe you don't know what it is
to loco any one. Well. the old darkey
hoodoo doctors of the south will tell
you that if you want to make girl
love you all you have to do is to put
some part OF Spanish fly into an APP
pie or ice cream or an oyster stew, or
anything you treat her to. and that
when she eats the fruit or the dish
she'll be crazy after you. That's what
they cali being locoed. don't know
whether the Spanish fly will do. that
or not but no one ever tasted one of
these birds / am speaking of without
being crazy for them ever after and
they don't feed on anything except
Spanish flies in the season when the
bird is sought for food / don't say
that people who eat them are locoed
by the birds, but maybe they are.
Il never saw these birds anywhere
except in southern Louisiana, but |
suppose they abound wherever the
Spanish fly is plentiful The bird is
called the papabote. and folks who
know say it belongs to the plover fami-
! ly. 1t is Of the size of the woodcock,
with sober gray plumage and a short.
hard bill The coming of the Spanish
/ fly on the foliage in the localities that
! it frequents is sudden and mysterious.
| Nobody knows whence IL comes or
whittier 1t goes 1t disappears as mys-
teriously as il comes. 1t is one OF the
most destructive insects that lives as
it comes in countless myriads and de-
yours ravenously growing vegetable
! plants. The papabote comes with the
| fly, remains until it disappears. and
consumes untold millions OF the insects.
The birds grow so fat that they are Just
balls covered with feathers, and when
they fall before the gun OF the sports
man they invariably burst open like
overripe fruit
The hunter who goes out with his
dog and his gun, though. with the ex-
pectation of filing his bag after the
regulation methods OF the scientific
gunner, will return without his game.
for the papabote is the shyest of birds.
and can be approached within gun
shot in only one way, for unlike all
well-known game birds, it will not
crouch to the hunting dog. The bird
is heavy of wing. and probably for
that reason rises in flight long before
the hunter is within range. 1t can be
shot in no way considered sportsman
like, but must be approached by means
OF horse and wagon. The bird will
permit a horse to walk up close to it.
and in open buggies or spring wagons
the hunters ride about among the feed
ing grounds Of the papabote their
guns lying across their laps. and they
wing the birds as they rise on every
side when the wagon has got nearer
than the birds considered safe. The
birds are considered such an incompar-
able delicacy among the epicures of
Louisiana that small armies of men
make great deal of money during the
season by shooting papabotes for
market. II is said that there is not
case on record of a person who had
once tasted papabote, fattened on
! flies, who did not have an irresistible
inclination for more"