The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-24
HOW PARROTS
ARE CAUGHT "

| The bird store was full Of noise of
| ch1rp and chatter and song, but above
| all. the clamor sounded the harsh croak-
| Ing and screeching of the green and
| yellow parrots that rivaled even the
| canaries in number.
I've just bought big consignment Of
| parrots said the proprietor of the shop.
L don't know whether we can sell all OF
them, but the market has been good,
| and got the birds so cheap that I can
! put selling price on them"
t Where did you get them?" asked q
| Sun reporter.
"Oh, they are Mexican parrots. You
could tell that at a glance If you knew
anything about birds. We handle very
few parrots of any other sort. The At
r1can grays are the finest variety in the
market, but 1t isn't easy to get them
"A good African gray is worth from
SIS to $50 and more. There aren't many
persons who want to pay that for par
rot. A Mexican yellow crown sells for
from sl5 to $40. and, after all, 1 don't
know but that 1t Is as desirable as its
swell cousin.
"The African bird Is more intelligent,
put 1t Is slower about learning to speak,
and 1t can't whistle like the Mexican
parrot. There are a good many kinds of
AAOSo III 4hCAlCO OOIIl6 Oh uQ6m arc
very cheap, but the parrot catchers who
supply the best trade don't often bother
with them. 1t doesn't pay.
| A very decent green parrot with red
crown comes up from Mexico, but 1 sell
dem handle 1t, for II isn't to be COM
pared to this green bird, with the yellow
head and the red shoulder straps
There were 275 parrots in the lot from
which I bought these, and they repre-
sented about three months work for a
professional parrot catcher. I suppose
they were worth possible s12 apiece to
him, but out of that he had to pay for
his poems, his donkeys, his living ex-
penses. and transportation to New York,
so there wasn't such tremendous mar
gin of profit left out Of the $780,
The profits ought to be big. I wouldn't
go into the business if anyone would pay
me dollar minute for It. The best
parrot country Is along La Cruz river,
down In the province of Tamaulipas. All
Kinds Of tropical birds and beasts and
reptiles are thicker down there than
mosquitoes are In Jersey. It's solid
jungle and swamp. The traveller takes
mis- choice of being eaten by red ants
or bitten by deadly snakes, or dying OF
FEVER. The parrot catcher adds a chance
o. being murdered by his poems.
When he starts out on his hunt he
buys five or six burros to take with him.
Then he goes to some one Of the for
lorn haciendas and buys five or six pe-
ems. You know. a Mexican peon is
about the last Of creation. He's only
a degree above Digger Indian.
lie Is SO shift1ess and ignorant and
improvident that he always goes head
over heels into debt, and then he has to
work the debt off, so he is practically a
slave. The hacienda owner won't let
the poems go unless the parrot catcher
pays what they owe. He pays 1t, for he
has to have them. No other class of peo-
pie would do his work. To all intents
and purposes. they are his property
He. starts into the jungle with them
and there his troubles begin. The dis
keep an eye on the poems constantly
They are absolutely without morals, will
steal everything within sight, lie ike
troopers and murder at the drop Of the
hat.
Its natural enough that the poor crea-
lures are what they are. They've never
had a chance, and they are treated like
brutes. but parrot men have told me that
to treat them in any other way. They
don't understand anything except force
and hard treatment, and they can't be
relied upon for q moment.
May Is the nesting time for parrots, or
rather 1t would be If the birds had nests
They don't. The female parrot lays her
eggs in high notch of a tree, and the
young are Matched out in the latter part
Of June, but the parrot catcher mustn't
take them until three or four weeks lat
err. They are not strong enough to stand
removal before then. When the right
time comes the hunt begins.
.The old birds are very clever about
keeping their young ones hidden, but at
feeding time In the early morning and
late evening there is a great clucking
and chattering. The hunters listen for
that pUh fhQu hnQr In, fro~
they know they have found what they
want.
'The master sends one of. the poems up
the tree. There is where any man save
catcher himself wouldn't for any money
tackle that part Of the job. The trees
are infested by red Mexican ants, and
they say there isn't anything in Mexico
that Is a warmer proposition than the
red ant.
"They move In solid battalions and
they eat everything in their path. When
a peon starts up the tree the ants attack
him, and I've been told that 1t Is nothing
unusual for a poor fellow to come tumb-
ling to the ground, bowling and grooming
and tearing at himself. and covered with
blood.
He makes for the nearest water for
drowning is the only thing that will
make the ants stop their ravages. Luck
lily, there's usually stream nearby. The
parrots always breed in the vicinity Of
water. The parrot catcher sends the
peon back up the tree or makes another
take his place, and the poor wretches
yell for mercy, but have to go.
They never try to capture old birds,
for it is almost impossible to teach an
old wild parrot anything; but they get
the young birds, and these rarely make
any effort to escape, after the first day.
The birds aren't even kept in coops, as
they are collected, but are put together
under sort of roof and not restrained
in any way.
Sometimes there will be several hum
dred birds In one of these parrot camps,
but they are quiet and tame. The chief
difficulty is in keeping snakes out of the
camp; and sometimes. Wild animals
break In at night and make havoc with