Evening star., 1897-03-13

maze IT. NO man mas tried 10 I'M
prove-he couldn't IL he wanted to. The
big trees with their variegated foliage. fam
tastic wild flowers growing everywhere.
the Sayly plumageG birds and the climate
with its soft air and balmy breezes makes
one fnvoluntarily halt and thank God he
lives to enjoy life. Fancy, If you can. great
forests OF that precious wood, ebony. The
natives sell 1t for railroad ties and burn
1t in their stoves. We pitched our camp
the first day in the most beautiful spot 1
ever saw. 1t was beside crystal spring,
In natural clearing. Around us were the
tall trees, and far away I'm the distance the
crest of the Sierra Madres. There a
chattering going Cn a short distance from
my tent. and / grabbed my gun TO investi-
gate. There at the top of a cactus. which
the MeXicans call petayo. 1 saw a big
spioer monkey tugging away at a sort of
apple that grew at the very tip of the
plant He had it after awhile and then
descended to the ground with the skill of
4 word walker. How he ever did IL with
out prlcking his feet l cannot tell. for the
plant was covered with stout spurs as
sharp AS a needle. When he saw me away
he went up neigEboring tree. and through
the trees he went faster than any horse |
ever saw run. He would swing by mis-
tail. then catch with his front feet and
then with his hind ones. until before [
could think to shoot he was out of sight.
L was in the monkey country, and from
that day my stay in Mexico became in
teresting. Here was n new kind of game,
and all the strategy 1 had learnt on the
plains counted for naught here. A few
centipeGes attracted by the campfire and
one or two tarantulas were the only vis-
itors We had
Catching Parrots.
THE reXt morning we started to work /
was awakened with the light by the most
outrageous noise 1 ever heard. Why, a
dozen putting steam engines would have
been sweet music compared with what /
heard when 1 opened my eyes. Screecning
in all keys came from the woods behind
the camp. The parrots had started the
morning anthem. After a hurried break
1ast OF DRIED beef and bread with a cup of
strcrg Mexican coffee to wash IL down. We
started. My. what a sight. Thousands of
pretty polls We're in the tree tops screech-
ing. l wanted to know how We were going
to catch them. My head man replied in
Mexican that We could not catch those
birds. AS re said this two big fellows
dropped to the ground before us and had
a hight that would have nut bulldog to
shame. 1 ran forward to catch them when
the Mexican called out stop. He added, the
ferocious little fellows would nip a piece
out of me before l thought. and besides
they woIld not live. AS looked closer 1
saw several varieties of parrots, but only
thought of the double yellow heads. They
were the best takers had heard and that
was the only variety wanted. But IT was
the nestlings that were desirable and We
pushed further into the interior to find the
nests.
1T was not much trouble after we had
located them. The men climbed up the
trees and robbed the nests with as much
satisfaction as a small boy. The young
are taken before their eyes are scarcely
open and fed on dough. This makes them
easily tractable. and they are seldom
fierce. While some claim the African gray
Is more intelligent, 1 do not agree with
them. The yellow head when properly
trained can talk and sing as well some
people. The Cartnegena is another good
variety found in Mexico a
constant attention for sudden draughts are
death to them. Ordinarily they live to be
fifty or seventy-five years of age.
How Monkeys Are Captured.
I'VE completed parrot list early in
the fall and then bent our energies to mon
keys. Here again the generally accepted
idea of how monkeys are captured is
wrong. Monkeys are taken when they are
young, and never when they are over six
months old. In the first place. monkeys
that can run about are very hard to catch
and in the second place, they are subject
to consumption. and close confinement puts
an end 10 them in short order.
Spider Monkeys
These spider monkeys are the most idiot
ic animals l ever saw. They haven't got
sense enough to bite you, and are foolish
in every other way. We catch the baby
monkeys out Of the nest. Occasionally an
old mamie is caught with two or three
babies clinging on to her. They make no
resistance whatever, and are easily trained.
We found numerous cinnamon monkeys in
the interior, and killed a number of PAN
theirs, taguars and black-tailed deer. They
have the musk hog, or the picarri, it is
sometimes called. When it comes to fight
ing they are the real thing, and a hunter
en- horseback had better keep the horse
away from them, for they will cut him
down with their sharp teeth.
I'VE only had one accident and that was
a peculiar one. Ii was while we were
catching PARROTS. A man named Jose was
climbing a tree, when We were Startled
to hear him cry out in pain and then saw
him jump twenty feet to the ground. We
ran up to him and found he had broken his
arm. But his face, hands and neck were
red and blistered. He had climbed into a
nest Of tree ants, and they had made an
attack on him. Next year l am going to
fit out expedition and bring back a
whole menagerie of wild Mexican animals
It's g great country for everything but poor
people. and they might just as well commit
suicide at once, for the life they are forced
to lead is worse than slavery. The great
majority of the lower class Of Mexicans
do not seem to care. They have been
raised to the hard, brutal life, and would
not understand kindness. Mexico is good
enough to visit, but give me the old United
States when 1T comes to ca mining life -