The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-01
HUNTING PARROTS IN MEXICO.
4 CALLING MADE PERILOUS BY
FIERCE FOREST ANTS.
The Pain INFLICTED by the Insects 80 Great
That Few Men save Poems Care 10
Face It--Pronts OF Parrot HuntinS
-Fayorttc Kinda Of Mexican birus.

-Fayorito Kinda OF Mexican Birds.
POMONA, Cal, Feb. 23.--George A. Coler
has come back to California after nine
years experience OF hunting parrots In
Mexico and Guatemala. Said he the other
| day:
IF II we're not for the big money there is
in it, mighty few white men would risk
their lives hunting parrots along La Cruz
River bottoms in old Mexico. The parrot
hunter is In danger Of fsvers, Of the enmity
OF the natives and OF attacks by wild
beasts and snakes.
But when you reckon that good parrot
hunter can get some 200 parrots in the
southern Mexican swamps and forests In
six months. and that nowadays each bird
is worth from Sl2 to $40, 1t is seen that
season Of parrot hunting Is worth. gross.
almost $500. More expert or luclier
parrot hunters sometimes get 800 and 400
| birds in a season.
There are half a dozen Americans and
several Frenchmen who have been en-
gagged In parrot hunting for a dozen or
score Of years. James A. Palmer, formerly
Of Chicago, is probably the greatest parrot
hunter in the world. He has been in the
business since about 1879.
He is a wealthy man now, makes BUSH
ness trips to Europe every few years and
has an enormous correspondence with bird
merchants in every quarter Of the globe.
He sent lot Of fine parrots TO Herr Krupp.
the famous gunmaker. only few weeks
before his death. There are lots Of years
when Palmer sells parrots and hooking
birds amounting to 5000 and $4,000.
Palmer used TO have charge Of an aviary
in public park in Chicago, and in one OF
his trips TO Mexico TO procure song
birds he saw the possibilities of hunting
parrots and hooking birds for the markets
of the world. He has sometimes as many
as eighty men in his employ.
Most parrot hunting expeditions com
prise six poems and as many burros. Only
the cheapest sort Of labor is procurable
for a parrot-hunting expedition, and the
Mexican peon being about the most i'm
provident, careless creature in human
form, he can never be induced to work
unless he is forced by debt and threats OF
his creditors. When poems are wanted
for parrot hunting, the hunter goes to a
hacienda and makes a requisition for them.
II they are in debt 10 him the owner Of the
place does not allow them 10 leave the
premises until the last farthing is paid.
Then they become the property, so to
speak. OF the hunter. The average pay
is Is cents a nay in American money.
The hunter must know much about the
birds habits 10 succeed. The parrot
builds no nest In the early part OF Nav
the female chooses a deep hollow in The
trunk Of a tree. generally from thirty to
forty feet above ground. Exceeding care
is taken TO keep the parrot home a secret.
There in the darkest spot two eggs are
laid
The young are Matched in June. and
il is usually July before the little fellows
are able to open their eyes. The hunter
reckons that at about the beginning OF
August, the young parrots may I've safely
removed from the care OF the parrots
Some hunters will not begin operations
sooner than September.
THE parent birds are singularly wise
They know that they are hunted. So
while their children are in the SQUAD state
the old parrots seldom utter a sound and
they fly away from their habtation only
when necessary 10 get food.
when the young birds are Matched
thew are fed twice a day by their parents
early in the morning and again just before
the close Of day. aud this operation usually
betravs to the hurter the whereabouts Of
his prey. The birds in feeding their young
give vent to a series OF contenteIi clucks
and chuckles, which are answered by the
Young ones, and indicate To the parrot
h,,rtor where the nest is hiddor.
sOnly poor poems can be hired TO perform
the hard work Of climbing trees and robhing
pollys nest While there Is no danger Of
serious attack bv the parent birds, as In
the case Of capturing cas- lets, the-e Is always
the menace Of attacks by colonies 81 orme-
goes--the ants OF the tropical forests.
Three out OF every FIVE trees where the
parrots live are guarded about the lower
trunk by swarming myriads OF ormegoes
saldnna no into tho bi oh narts
Of the trees. 20 the birds are generally safe
from them. but have found many parrot
home where the ormegoes had eaten every
thing save the birds bones and claws.
The moment tree climber begins his
ascent Of a trunk. countless thousands OF
the ants swarm forth from beneath the bark
and attack the climber. ] have seen sew
eral poems actually crazy with the pain
caused by the bites. Time and again
have seen peon tree climbers leap down
from a tree trunk with howl OF pain, and
run like madmen for the nearest pool OF
water. once saw a fellow in the delirium
Of pain inflicted by thousands OF ormegoes,
stab himself savagely.
-Thls experience Ia one that no white
man would endure, and OF itself deters
many jungle hunters from the exciting
sport Of capturing parrots One pecu-
liarity OF these ferocious forest ants Is
that myriads OF them move in a solid pha-
lanx from tree to tree, carrying leaf IN
an upright poaton AZ ule heau y uhc
column. like a banner, and resembling
conquering army on a march Of invasion.
The poems have all manner OF ways OF
avoiding a. far as possible. attacks by the
ormegoes. The principal way ia the use
OF ropes, which tho Mexicans cast from
one limb TO another, and by which they
ascend tai the hollows where the young
parrots are nesting.
AT the FIRST sign Of danger the parent
bird utters a sharp note Of alarm, and the
chuckling and chattering young fiedglings
cease their no So as suddenly az il an cleo
trio shock had paralyzed them. After the
capture Of their young the old ones some
times hutter about camp and utter tie same
cry Of warning. at which the young parrots
abruptly lapse into sience.
Hunters never try 10 capture old birds,
as they do not overcome their aversion 10
cage life and seldom learn TO talk. Strange
a. IL may seem, young parrot is tame as
soon as II lis taken from the nest, and APP
parently L. never conscious Of the loss
OF its liberty. IL In not Immediately out