Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-03-11
BIRDS OF PHILIPPINES.
INTERESTING DESCRIPTION BY DR.. Ed
WORDS OF NUMEROUS BIRDS ON
THE ISLANDS.
Mound Builders, Parrots, Parockets. Cocka-
toos. Jungle Fowl. Pigeons, Snipe.
Plover, Mallard Ducks. and Birds
Of Various Kinds. Alligators.
Snakes and Insects are
Also Numerous.

Manila, p. L.. March 4 The first
things that strike the visitor to the
Philippines is the enormous number
of birds and their wonderful plum
age. This country may be said to be
bird paradise. and one who loves to
study birds could spend a lifetime
here with full enjoyment of every day
of it. The most beautiful bird to be
seen is the sun bird. which is small,
like the humming- bird, and most gor-
geously colored. 1t feeds on the
honey of flowers but is not so strong
| in flight as the hummers. As it
flashes about among the flowers it
looks like an animated sunbeam.
The strangest bird is the mound
builder. 1t is called by the natives
the tabon. These birds are about the
size of small chickens but lay very
large eggs, which are out of proper
tion to the size of the bird. They
burrow in sand and soft earth and lay
their eggs two or three feet below the
surface. The eggs are rich in yolk,
and when the young birds hatch they
are highly developed and scratch their
way out of the ground and run to the
forest where they take care of them
selves. When the parent bird deposits
its egg it covers it with earth and a
mound of steadily increasing size is
thus formed. | saw one such mound
fifteen feet in diameter and five feet
high. The natives prize these eggs
highly for food, and search for the
mounds and rob them.
Late one afternoon we started from
Manila ard went to country place
of friend where We remained all
night We were up with the sun and
by the time we had breakfast the dew
had been dispelled and we started for
q hunt in the forest nearby. Hun
dreds OF parrots, parokects and cocka-
toos filled the forest with noise. while
it seemed as it thousands of birds OF
all colors and kinds were fitting in
the trees or running through the
tangled grass. We had gone but
short distance when saw what sup
posed to be a domestic leghorn rooster,
but as it took wing and flew through
the forest like pheasant l was sure L
had missed an opportunity. 1 was
not mistaken for l found that it was
a jungle fowl which is the progenitor
jungle fowls are frequeatly domesti-
Gated in the Philippines, and cross
readily with chickens. The natives
catch them by taking domestic roos-
ter to the woods and tying it in a
small open place. When the rooster
crows it is answered by the jungle
cock which comes to give battle TO
the invader of its domain. lie gets
caught in snares deftlv laid near the
tied rooster We found several dur
ing our morning hunt and they gave
good shooting. for they are strong of
wing and splendid flyers.
We remained in the forest about
four hours aud in that time killed six
Jungle cocks, twenty five pigeons,
known as balud, about three times as
large as the wild pigeon of the United
States. fifty snipe and plov- and ten
mallard ducks. AS there were but
three in the party beside the boys to
carry the game. one can imagine that
there was plenty of good shooting to
be found within IL short distance. The
weather is so sultry that one does not
care to undergo great exertion, and
most of our time was spent in sitting
down and talking over the strange
things to be seen.
As we returned along the banks we
could see hundreds of alligatOrs bask-
ing on the mud banks. and our host
promised to give us some really excit-
ing sport on the river if we would
come back He said that alligator
hunting gave a spice OF danger to the
chase not to be found when hunting
birds or other animals. l am now
figuring on taking an alligator hunt,
and then if possible shall go after
wild buffalo which roam in great
herds along the base OF the mountains
farther in the interior. There are
also many bands of wild hogs which
give great sport, anu III soLuO CoScS
they are exo exoeedingly dangerous GUS
toners These hogs fight as des-
perately as do the peccaries of Central
and South America, and one species
grows very large. The wild boars
have immense tusks and are so dan
gerous that they are seldom hunted.
One mas TO look ont for poisonous
snakes, and there is an eternal war
fare with insects which swarm about
you all the time while in the forests.
These do not add anything to the
pleasure of the hunting. but the
natives do rot seem to mind them at
all. l was SO thoroughly bitten by
them that the swelling did not go out
OF my hands and face for several days.
| There is little gnat here called the
plea which bites most viciously yet
which is so small that you can scarce
Iy see it while it is Biting you.