Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-10-30
GROWS FAT ON FLIES.
Bird that Thnves on tho Spanish Fly
First Class Table Luxury.

A Bird that Thrtves on the Spanish Fl,
First Class Table Luxury.
You would scarcely suppose that's
bird which fsttens itself on an insect
that will raise q blister on your flesh
almost as quick as a coal of fire will
would be much OF table luxury,
would your" inquired the learned
grocer of Eighth avenue OF n. Y.
bun reporter as he hooked mackerel
out OF the kit for a consumer.
Few people up north ever heard OF
the bird, guess much less ever tast-
ed one, but every one knows the Span.
Ism fly, A fly blister used to be as
common as collie and some folks used
to say that it was easy to loco any ono
II 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 darley
hoodoo doctors of the south will tell
you that if you want TO make a girl
love You all you have to do is to out
some part OF Spanish fly into an ap-
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 call 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 excep,
Spanish flies in the season when the
bird is sought for food. ! don't say
that people who eat them are locoea
by the birds, but maybe they are.
81 never saw these birds anywhere
except in southern Louisiana, but I
suppose they abound wherever tho
Spanish fly is plentiful. The bird 10
called the papabote, and folks who
know say it belongs to the ployer fami-
ly. 1t Is OF the sizo OF the woodcock.
with sober gray plumage and short
hard bill The coming of the Spanish
fly on the foliage in the localities that
1t trequents is sudden and mysterious
Nobody knows whence It comes or
whittier II goes. 1t disappears as mys-
teriously as 1t comes. Ii 10 one of tina
most destructive insects that lives. an
1t comes in countless myriads and dc.
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 horse to walk up close to IL
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 whea the wagon has got nearer
than the birds considered safe. The
birds ara considered such an incompar-
able delicacy among the epicures of
Louisiana that small armies OF men
make = great deal of money during tho
season by shooting papabotes 70,
market 1t is said that here is not .
case on record of a person who had
once tasted a papabote, fattened on
flies, who did not have an irresistible
inclination for more"