The Cairo bulletin., 1910-03-05
GIVE QUAKE ALARM
When Mexican Parrot Seeks Hiuh
Altitude People Flee.
Those OF TERRA caliente Have Saved
Thousands Of Lives by Giving
Warning of Seismic Dis.
turbaHces.

City of Mexico That geese once
saved ancient Rome from destruction
at the hands of its enemies is legend
which has almost become truth. bur
the parrots OF Mexico. particularly
those of the TERRA Calente. or hot
country along the coast. have saved
thousands of lives In real fact by Civ
ing warning Of approaching seismic
disturbances.
Not alone have the tame parrots, Of
which there Is one or more In almost
every house in Mexico. done this, but
the wild flocks down along the west
coast have saved thousands of dol
lars worth of bridges and other rail
road construction work from destruc
ton. Whenever there Is heavy
storm coming the parrots silently
take to the highest and thickest foil
aged trees in the jungle. but when an
earthquake Is destined to come OF
within the next few hours every par
rot in the country Immediately seeks
a bare, open, level space In the wild
forest and alights on the ground
The parrot being exclusively an ar
borea bird, this Is unusual in itself;
but, in addition to this, the birds
which are usually unbearably noisy
become suddenly silent, emitting now
and again peculiar cry which they
use at no other time. This fact is
amply attested by engineers of the
Southern Pacific and other railroads
through the parrot-infested parts u
Mexico.
What the wild pigeon once was in
point of numbers to the United States,
that the parrot. of varying shades of
color and all sizes, is to Mexico
Flights of these birds frequently dark.
en- the midday sun In the hot country,
and they become so tame around the
camps of engineers that the birds are
given individual names and soon be-
come regular pets.
Whenever we saw the parrots de-
sorting the forest and alighting on
the ground In the open spaces of the
Jungle we Immediately withdrew the
pile drivers from the bridges" said
G. J. Green. an engineer, Just returned
from III months work on the South
arn Pacific In Mexico, In which he
passed through the states OF Sinaola
and Colima and portion of the ter
ritory of Tepic. the heart OF the par
rot country.
THE BIRDS" said Mr.. Green, gave
us sure warning of the approach of
an earthquake, and we never failed to
heed their warning that we did not
have trouble with the pile drivers, and
any steel or wooden beams standing
upright were sure to be toppled .over
In fact, we lost the greater part of one
steel bridge because we did not pay
attention to the parrots and take a
great weight Of cars loaded with stone
off the outer end.
There Is, Of course, no warning OF
those quakes, and were It not for the
pnrrsts hundreds of the Mexican la
borers working around the piers and
abutments would have lost their lives.
In the towns of the hot country,
just previous to the last series of
earthquakes. one Of which shocks was
so disastrous to Acapulco, the people
were warned by the struggles OF ey-
cry parrot confined In a cage through
out the length and breadth of Mexico
that earthquakes were coming on.
For several hours before the heavy
shocks began to come the birds were
making their low and plainttve earth
quake cries, as the natives call them,
and were trying to escape from their
cages"
Other engineers and white men
who have spent much time In the
jungles of tropical America tell the
same story. Monkeys are afraid of
quakes, and can feel them coming as
well as the birds, but do not give
such plain warning, merely scurry
ing for the tops Of the highest trees
and quieting their chatter when the
I. lie L,No nd ,ay 70 I~ f1iA