Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-03
Dr.. Mann Describes Reds
covery of Giant Bird as
Event in ORTHODOXY.
R00SEVELTS SHIP RARE
COLLECTION TO CAPITAL
Pair Of Adult Gibbons and Baby
Are Captured by Explorers
in Himalayan Area.
BY THOMAS. r. HENRY.

rot family and supposedly extinct for
the last so years, was brought to the
National Geological Park yesterday by
Stephen Haweis, Washington artist,
who has spent the past six months on
this little known British island OF the
Lesser Antilles.
The rediscovery Of this giant parrot
was described by DR.. William M. Mann,
director of the zoo, as IAN event in
ornithological history"
DR.. Mann also received yesterday
afternoon q cable from Harold Coolidge.
one of the party which accompanied
Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt into
UNEMPLOYED areas Of the Himalayas this
Spring, that shipment Of rare animals
captured by the expedition was on its
way from Shanghai and would reach
San Francisco August 81.
! Bamboo Rat" Il Found.
This includes a pair of adult glib
bons and q nursing baby, Malay and
| q Himalayan bear, five macaque mon
keys. possibly Of suhspecies never be-
fore seen in America, and what is de-
scribed as q bamboo rat" which APP
parently il unknown to science.
OrnithologistS have been so certain
that the giant imperial parrot was ex
| tinct, DR.. Mann said, that 1t no longer
I
world. 1t Is a large parrot, with feath-
ers predominantly dark green, but with
purple head. a grayish-purple collar
around the breast and q bronze tail.
| The feathers are arranged in a fish,
scale" pattern.
| The reason the creature supposedly
was extinct, Haweis said was because
it has been driven back to a small,
| densely forested and inaccessible area
IN ~
| This same area also Is the home Of the
last remnants of the Carib Indians
| in the West Indies. A small group Of
them, still racially pure, dwells in the
| jungle, occasionally coming to the
towns with baskets for the market. It
is practically impossible for anybody
else TO enter this area.
Great Parrot Was Prize.
Years ago, DR.. Mann said, the Inn
| perial parrot was one of the great
prizes Of bird collectors, but then only
occasional wounded specimens reached
| the United States to die in few weeks.
This was explained by Haweis as due
| to the fact that the collectors would
offering high prices for the birds. Even
| these natives seldom see one and the
only way they knew to capture one was
| to shoot all they saw, in the hope that
| finally one would fall so slightly
| wounded that it could be brought to
collector alive. This contributed
greatly to the extinction of the bird
which retreated into denser and denSer
| jungles.
The bird obtained by the artist was
blown out of a tree during a hurri-
| cane, while nesting, and is in perfect
condition. The Imperial parrot always
has been described as fierce and I'M
tamable. Haweis' specimen, however,
is tame and friendly.
1t is probably, Haweis said yesterday,
! the first of these giant parrots ever
! to learn to talk and it was taught
by another parrot. This was a Bou-
queti parrot, also a native of Dominica
| and only slightly less rare than the
Imperial. Haweis obtained a tanned
! specimen, which already was an ac-
compl1shed conversationalist, and plac-
| ed it in the cage with the young bird.
AS a result, the latter soon began speak
ing simple words and is adding to
its vocabulary. The Bouquet is
Pink Frogs Are Given.
Haweis also brought back as gifts to
| the Zoo dozen specimens Of the edible
frog, a large. pinkish land frog, which
is confined to the Lesser Antilles, and
which is considered great delicacy
both by the natives and settlers, with
the result that 1t Is fast becoming eX-
tinct. Haweis describes it as the most
eatable Of all frogs. which should be
! raised for the market in captivity. He
intends to communicate with the Brit
ish government in an effort to have
regulations promulgated to save it from
extinction. At present, he said. the ma
tives know nothing Of the habits OF the
animal and can capture 1t only during
the mating season, when 1t betrays its
| whereabouts by its calls.
The artist also presented the Zoo
! with a considerable collection of rare
| fish from Dominican waters, including
the famous armored catfish. which lives
on the bottom of the West Indian
streams and whose scales have been
modified by evolution into bony plates
so that 1t is practically true flsh with
| shell. He also brought back some
peculiar fish which inhabit the pitch
the source Of some Of the worlds
asphalt supply, and looks like a great
black barren nudfiat upon which a
man can walk without sinking, though
it really is liquid.
Fish Hops to New Residence.
Water collects In the holes cut by the
| water. The pitch slowly folds in on the
holes, forcing the water to run on over
the surface and leaving the fish high
and dry. But they are tough fish.
They Immediately start hopping up and
down on the surface of the pitch in
search Of another water hole. Many die
before they succeed, but some always
manage to hop far enough to land in
water again, thus preserving the species.
LII AAw d. DE-
tory of the Zoo so far as new animals
were concerned. DR.. Mann received as
a gift from r. G. Rogers of Liver
pool, a member Of the Royal Geological
Society, a New Guinea pheasant pigeon,
one of the largest of the pigeon family
which hitherto has been unknown in
captivity. He also received pair Of
golden-crowned minahs from New
Guinea, the first ever brought into the
United States. Both the head and feet
of these crow-like birds are rich
gold color. They can be taught to talk.
With them came q pair of black and
white New Guinea starlingS.
At the same time came a message
from DIR. H. c. Kellers, who accom-
panied the Naval Observatory eclipse
expedition to the Philippines and who
presented large collection Of birds
and animals to the Zoo last month,
LKlaC dIlOCAlSE SA4puLCuI Va IL PdAo CdC1l
of green fruit pigeons and bleeding
heart pigeons was on its way to WASH
ington.
Roosevelt Cable Was Surprise.
The cable from the Roosevelt expe-
dition came as complete surprise to
DR.. Mann. These animals, he said,
apparently were captured In the remote
| interior of Upper Burmah, which has
been little explored and which was en-
tered by one branch of the expedition.
Although gibbons, the smallest, hand
soonest and liveliest Of the n1an-like