The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-03-12

apartment houses, / might almost say. |
Some nested in natural cavities in
trees, others constructed their homes
in nests of-termits, (white ants.) /
found great colony nests that accom-
modated perhaps 200 birds of the Boil
borbynchus, a generic name for GER
tain of the parrakeet family The
parrakcets, as a whole, have narrow,
wedge shaped tails, the central feath-
ers being longest, and they are all of
small or medium size. They belong
to the family OF the parrot, being
distinguished by the peculiar shape of
the tail and their smaller size. -
After describing at length the Gus
| toms of these birds Prof Cherrie told
OF an experience with a iabiru, a spe-
cies of long necked and long legged
birds, which build large nest, some
times adjoining that of the para
keets He said:
cone time when hunting for iabiru
| had an interesting and humiliating
adventure. | had marked a fine speei-
men on the opposite side of marsh
that had been skirting, and carefully
stalked the bird. | was using a rife,
and fired a metal jacket bullet, in or
der not to tear the specimen too
much. My bird dropped, and l looked
about to find way to get across the
marsh, but discovered ] would have
miles tc walk if | went around.
$50 l piled my clothes in little
heaps, put my gun on top, and, taking
uIy knife between my teeth, | pro
eocded to wade and swim across the
marsh in order to secure ms speci-
men. AS l emerged on the other side,
[ saw great white wings spread out
and he bird lying fiat before me.
stopped TO gloat over it for moment
but was surprised to see my bird get
to his feet. There was an effort to
gpread his wings, but apparently the
ball has passed through both shout
t ders, leaving the wings helpless. But
| was soon to learn that those thin
! legs were far from helpless.
"The jabiru started to walk away
! from me. / increased my speed a lit
: tie. Mr.. Jabiru increased his speed 9
4 whole lot, but still seemed to be merely
Y walking. Soon | was running at full
speed, and | must have been very
! striking figure in the absence of any
: clothing But / was totally uncon
scious of that fact in my eagerness t
: overtake the iabiru. But vain hope
The harder | ran the faster the iabir,
n walked Finally the bird disappeared
:. leaving me q very angry and mucl
, chagrined hunter, and | dion t adj
i anything to my comfort when ! ha,
{ to wade and swim back in that scur
e covered water-still carrying my knit
!. between my teeth. For all | know he
, walking yet.
]. He described the giant ant eater
! which he said he always suppose
: confined itself to the ground, but sal
= that on one occasion his Indian guild
q pointed out one of these animal
!, climbing q tree, being 80 feet fror
y the ground. Continuing, Prof. Chez
= RE said:
y While | am talking about ant ea'
y ers II may be of interest 10 tell Of a
= experience | had with one Of anothe
specics-the tamandua-a form whic
le is more aboreal than terrestrial
{ While considerably smaller than tn
giant ant eater, l found it not devoi
Of courage. | was walking along I'll
W forest path ono day, when | heard
,h rusting III the bushes | quickl
Is turned NY gun in that direction. an
II was on guard to see what was con
Il ing.
T. "What was my surprise to ser
le tamandua burst through the thick,
g and Immediately rear himself on h
r hind legs With a peculiar hissin
~ sound, he came for me as fast as h
short legs would permit. ! had
III good deal Of respect for those froI
IS claws as ! backed away, holding OF
'e my gun barrel, at which the anim
a. struck viciously. Time and again
y backed away, but the animal persiste
g In all the % years that | ha1
a spent in the tropics ] have never b
! fore been attacked by any amin
- without provocation, and it W;
II doublv strange that the charge in Il
u, present instance should have bee
made by an animal that is considert
- most inoffensive | mention this ca
=" because Of its isolation and in Il
OF hope that, if there have been simil
NJ experiences, they may be put
:" record.