Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-03-27
Dr.. Edwards Letter.

derful plumage. THIS country may
he said to be bird parad Use. and
one WHO loves to study birds could
spend lifetime here with full
ENJOYMENT of every day o. it.
The most beautiful birds to be
seen is the sun bird. which IS
small, like the humming bird. and
most gorgeously colored. 1t feeds
on the honey Of flowers but is not
so strong in flight as the humers.
As it dashes about among the
flowers it looks like an animated
sunbeam.
The strongest bird is the Mound
Builder. 1t is called BY the natives
the Tabon. These birds are about
he size Of small chickens but lay
very large eggs, which are out of
proportion 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 thew take care
of themselves When the parent
bird deposits its eggs it covers it
with earth and a mound of steadily
increasing size is thus formed. 1
saw one such mound fifteen feet
in diane ier and five feet high,
The native prize these eggs highly
for food. and search for the mound
and rob them. Late one afternoon
we started from Manila and went
to a country place Of friend
where we remained all night. We
we're up with the sun and by the
time we had breakfast the birds
had been dispelled and we started
for a hunt ID the forest nearby.
Hundreds of parrots sparokests or
cockatoos filled the forest with
noise, while it seemed as if thou
sands Of birds of all colcrs and
kinds we're fitting in the trees or
running through the tangled
grass. We had gone but short
distance when l saw what l sup
posed to be domestic leghorn
rooster, but as it took wing and
flew through the forest ! ike a phea.
SAINT / was sure l had missed an
opportunity. | was not mistaken
for l found that it was a Jungle
fowl which is the progenitor of
the red leghorn chicken. These
jungle fowls are frequently do
mesticated in the Philippines and
cross readily with chickens. The
natives catch them BY taking do
nestle rooster to the woods and
tying it in a small open place.
When the rooster crows it is AN
swered by the Jungle cock which
crows to give battle to the JIM
vader OF its domain. 1t gets
caught in snares deity laid near
the tied rooster. We found seve-
raj during 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 and in that time killed
six ungleco cocks. twenty FIVE
pigeons. known as bslud. about
three times as large as the wild
pigeons of the United States. fifty
snipe and plover and ten smaller
duck. As there were but three
in the party besides the boys to
carry the game, one can imagine
that there was plenty of good
shooting to be found within a 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.
1 As we returned along the banks
we could see hundreds of aligators
basking on the mud banks. and
our host promised to give us some