The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-05
A HUGE SPIDER.
Kills Birds and Lizards and Eats
Them.

/
Them.
From the Louisville Courier Journal.
Philadelphia, Oct eff asked to name
the thing I most dreaded when in the
tropical forests and on the savannas, 1
thing 1t would be the centipede. Scorpions
are bad enough. some species of ants are
extremely troublesome; various minute
insects, like the "bete rouge" or red bug,
the chigoe or bigger" and the ''garrapa-
ia" or wood-tick, are things to be avoided
| but the centipede is by far the worst OF
| them all. 1t has not, as its name would
indicate, a hundred feet, but it has be-
| tween thirty and forty, each one poison
| Gus. And let a centipede get on your skim
and become alarmed, no power on earth
can remove 1t quickly enough to prevent 1t
| from digging its venomous claws into
| your flesh. 1t moves with the celebrity OF
| CREASED lightning" and when seen run
ming across an open floor appears like a
| brown streak.
There is one other object more horrible
| to contemplate, and that is the tarantula
| which also moves with surprising quick
ness. 1t does not glide, however, like a
| thing of cvil as the centipede does; but
| leaps directly at one with viciousness
| not to be mistaken. l remember we'll my
| first attempt to capture one. in the beau
| tiful botanical garden of martinique in the
| West Indies. l was strolling along the
| avenue of stately palms (since destroyed
| by hurricane) when ] saw a big taran-
| tua directly in the path before me, half
| hidden beneath the dead leaf of bread
| fruit tree. had a stick In my hand, and
poked the spider to make 1t get into the
| open. Instead of turning about to escape
it made leap for my hand, which 1t miss
| ed only by few inches That was enough
for me- did not crave live tarantula for
my collection, though a moment later
there was a dead spider in the path Even
in death it is an ugly-appearing thing,
| large and hairy, with legs that would
stretch across a saucer.
On another occasion saw a tarantula
| on the wall of a hut by the roadside,
right over the doorway through which
the occupants of the hut, black woman
and her children. were constantly pass
| ing. l called their attention to the Great
ure, but they merely glanced at it care
| lessly and allowed it to retreat into the
| thatch of the roof.
There is, however one spider larger than
| the common tarantula. which is abund-
| ant enough to be an object of dread in
| the forests of the Guianas. This is the
great bird spider, the 'Mygale avicula-
| ria" which catches and kills not only
| birds, but lizards, other small reptiles,
and even young chickens. 1t builds it's
| nests in the trees and there lies in wait,
| just as the house spider does the flies,
| leaping upon it's victims like tiger. 1t
is in fact, the tiger of the tribe, and is
| justly feared by both birds and human
| beings.
In my excursions into the woods, used
| to pass an old tree. the trunk of which
| was slightly followed. Beneath the over
| hanging bark above the hollow, family
| of bats had affixed themselves six of
nv nd
| downward. They always chung in the form
| of triangle, three bats in the upper row,
| then a row OF two, a single bat at the
| bottom. One day 1 missed the lower
| most one, but the next day his place had
been supplied. The day following he too
| was gone; and when / inquired of my
| negro guide the reason and manner of
his taking off. he informed me that prob
ably bird spider had captured him.
At another time I was hunting along
shore for small birds, among the sea-
grapes, the hanging racemes of creamy
white flowers attracting birds and insects,
owing to the honey which they contained.
The first bird 1 shot there was a black
and yellow "Sugar-eater," so called from
it's liking for sugar and all sweet things,
a frequent visitor to the sugar plantations
during the boiling season. 1t fell, as l
fired, into dense cluster of sea-grapes;
another bird attracted my attention Just
one 1 had shot l went in pursuit of the
second. soon returned but could not find
my bird, though I knew he must be some
where near AS I was peering through the
leaves, however, a slight rustling drew my
attention to a very comical sight. 1t was
large lizard, which, with one foot placed
upon the bird l had shot, was intently
watching me with his diamond-bright eyes.
He had stripped off some Of the feathers
from the dead bird, which he was hastily
devouring, having first drawn II some dis
lance from the spot where 1t had fallen.
A tuft of yellow feathers stuck to his nose,
and these he vainly endeSvo-cd to scratch
off with the claws of his right forefoot, at
the same time cycling me very suspiciousy.
First he would make a dig at his nose,
then cock has head over to one side with
a malicious CLEAN In his eyes, as IL to ask
what was going to do about 1t. The whole
proceeding seemed to me so entertaining
that as there were sugar-eaters in plenty,
1 was ready to leave Mr.. Lizard in pos
session and go Off in search OF another
bird.
But suddenly, Just as was turning
away, a black, hairy object fell upon
the lizard; there was a short, sharp strug
gle, and my predatory friend was still
in death.
I was much Disguised at the termina-
ton Of the adventure. might easily
have killed the spider Cfor such 1t was),
but I did not; 1 left him to enjoy his
double dinner Of bird and lizard.
1t was indeed a revolving spectacle to
see that horrid thing descend upon its
victim. It's bite. or sting, is said to be
extremely poisonous, and I concluded
that this must be so from the expeditions
manner in which 1t caused the death of
the unlucxy little reptile, itself as long
as its slayer The incident made me
decidedly nervous. The hldeous looking
but harmless iguanas have habit of
darting noisily through and over the
dead leaves on the ground; and for a
long time at every rush 1 would leap
hastily aside, under the impression that
it was one of these huge and venomous