New-York tribune., 1908-09-27

Cra@.tso-ies Scrlbner's Sons
spoRr OF BTRD-sTUDY. BY Herbert |
TiE,chtIev Job. Illustrated I-Lno' PIP 81 ~
Ase4JrrI,ng Publishing Company
Bird FRIENDS BY &c George s3e,- H rJ58,1Iiai, BgTea-
Ilusraied- 4-'l'' ~
rs company
,o-th the birds are making their fare
y incidentally taking afternoon tea with
1,,ne sug grubs in the lawn-and are
n . Now comes the time when no
g. .,,-,-ar6 y hat better time than Z winter
s15 fo- An excursion into the fascinating
gti-5 ,iee preparatory 20 real study by and
y. Here are some inspiring books
- Nirou. an accomplished British ornitholo-
<. has gone far aheld for the material OF MS
-.e--airins volume. His observations and col
| ions were made when as a guest on Lord
rau-tord-s yacht. the VaIhaIla- he sailed and
/ ..-,ed through three oceans. visiting many
-, n the way places. touching especially at
ils7=s little known. As tie NaIhaIla is one O.
| .-. most comfortable of modern yachts II is
t-s n imagine q more delightful expedition foI
/ naturalist eagerly interested II his work Mr..
,.ir1 WIS not Indifferent to fishes, reptiles and
4,-7als. but he chiefly devoted himself 10
,s-5s and the British Museum Is to-day much
-. -i-7e- ror his contributions From the third
,-,,-s he returned with no fewer than eight
non. s-,srfes of birds. mos Of which were dis
,o,-4-e5 in the practically unknown Islands 10
., 10Th 7r -ra Madagascar coast. Five hun
a. bird skins were part Of the loot of this
,-7.,e which also included various live birds
-a--1,re On Assumption Island was Of a pair
!. -sfs. birds thar have an ODD habit of squeal-
f7c and sruuting ike pigs standing quite still
the while and Ttfing out all their feathers, and
r-aauzLy coIapsing as the squeals aid grunts
sybsi5e These collapsible birdlinrs were so
iane that they walked about the strangers il
2 perfectly unconcerned manner. In the neigh
boring island Of AIdabra the TaIhalla visitors
found il the fbises even more friendly wild
BIRDS:
Mary were perched in the trees while many
more, Chiefly fuI grown young birds. were walk
n the middle of the pool seyeTal were sitting to
me sror,er 70 photograph al close quarters. so
7 al once urpacked my tripod camera and set II
iss Ttz T5recantion was however needless
FOR they were not only quite fearless but SO in
o5Hine e-s Ne ~ S-ove tbe-9 hack 10 the rocks
tss - , rIate could be exposed they were
@ g--A - ~ --ar,ea-e4 +r-e5-s-a novel expert
p7ce for them and for us-tlat We could keep
s-5as l = Ih0foEraI,ts in proper perspective
sseT mi We allowed them 10 come close up and
9len We had examined them al very close quar-
ie-s We decided 10 try 70 catch one To oUr as
,0-;shr,err rhev would all allow themselves 70 be
picke6 u- did they show any signs OF fear
w-er released. but merely round feet
Tluckirg 81 tags Of our boot laCeS ! have
- --s-v --.IE birds which showed little fear Of
nan hU- have never come across such ex-raOrdi-
na-ily familiar birds a these ibises-
On another island Of this group our author
encountered that darling Of the poets, ''buI-
hui" which, 50 far from living up 10 its nusi-
rzl -e7-1-a+ion emitted the most abonlinable
screams from daybreak until sunset Now and
then NJ Nicol offers Us al interesting notice
of creatures other than bi-ds-witness his Ge-
sr--rrior cf The sea serpent seen of the coast OF
& F2-zzn q queer monster which he feels sure was
not 2 reutile hut ! mammal. The first thing
inr ID about Two feet from the water. Below
4 The water We could tn65st1nctly see a very large
4 h-5vnist-black patch but could not make out
& the shape of The creature Every now and then
A the IN entirely disappeared below the water.
Suddenly At eel-l-ka neck about six feet long
and q the thickness of q mans thigh, having
had shaped Ike that Of q turtle, appeared in
cr7u Of the fl. Ttts head and neck, which
were of the same color above as the fin but of
slve-y white below. lashe5 up the water with
4 z curious wrEEItn- movement. After this Il
WIS SO far as-e-n rr Is that We could make
on nothing else This report OF q scientific
observer goes far II csrr5 55orating the generally
ridiculed statements y the plain mariner. Be
cause Of this -iGic-le. as ri NicoI points out
E many persons hesitate -o describe what they
have seer. and he adds that he knows himself
Of several instances # unknown sea monsters