Year: 1877

The Leopard of the Air.
Yes" said QuerlaOun. ''in my
younger days, 1 remember, my wife
and myself were on ourplantation with
some of our slaves, and one day we
heard the cries OF baby and saw a
child carried up into the sky by one of
these guanioniens. The baby had been
laid on the ground, and the guanionien
whose eyes never miss anything, and
which had not been noticed soaring
above our heads, pOunced on its prey,
and then laughed at us as he rose and
| flew TO dispart part of the forest"
Then Querlaoun showed me fetch
partly made of two huge claws of this
bird. What tremendous things the
! talOns, how deep they could go into
the flesh


Then came the wonderful stories of
the very great strength of the bird
The people were afraid of them, and
were compelled to be very careful of
their babies. These grand eagles do
not feed on fowls; they are too small Of
game for them. Monkeys are what
they like best; they can watch them as
they float over the top of the trees OF
the forest: but sometimes the monkeys
get the better OF them.


People had better not try 10 get hold
of the guanionien young, il they want
| 10 keep their sight" said Gambo for,
as sure as we live, the old bird will
pounce upon the man that touches its
young"


For u long time heard the people
talking OF the guanionien, but had never
u had n grli nr \nw look
ing up again, | saw several OF them.
How high they We're, At times they
would appear 10 be quite still in the air
ut other times they would soar. They
were 80 high that | do not see how
they could possibly see the tree; every
thing must have been i'll haze To
them monkeys of course, could not be
seen. They were, no doubt. amusing
themselves; and 1 wonder if they tried
to see how near they could go to the
sun. Some al times flew 81 high that
l lost sight of them.


In the afternoon [ thought | would
ramble round. 1 took double-barrel
smOth-bOre gun, and loaded one side
with bullet, in case l should see
larger game; the other barrel | loaded
with shot No. ,. Then | carefully
plunged into the woods till | reached
the banks of little stream, and there
1 heard the cry OF the mondi (COlobus
Satanus), which is the largest monkey
of these forest. From their shrill cries
| thought there might be at least half Il
dozen. was glad indeed that | had
one barrel loaded with big shot. III
the mondis were not too far of, | would
be able 10 get fair shot and kill one.
advanced very cautiously until L
got near to them. | could then see
their big bodies, long tails, and long,
jet-black, shining hair. What hand
some beasts they were. what Il nice
looking mutt their skins would make, L
thought.


just as | was considering which of
them | would fire at, L saw some big
thing, like shadow, suddenly come
down upon the tree Then ! heard the
flapping of heavy wings, and also the
death cry of Il poor mOndi. Then saw
a huge bird, with Il breast spotted some
what like leopard, raise itself slowly
into the air, carrying the monkey in
its powerful, tinger-like talons. The
claws of one leg was fast III the upper
part of the neck of the monkey 81 deep
were they in the flesh that they were
completely buried and few drops of
blood fell upon the leaves below. The
other leg had its claws quite deep into
the back of the monkey. The left leg
was kept higher than the right and l
could see that the great strength of the
bird was used at that time TO keep the
neck and also the back OF the victim,
from moving. The bird rose higher
and higher, the monkeys tail swayed
TO and fro, and then both disappeared.
1t was a guaniOnien. Its prey was no
doubt, taken to some big tree where il
could be devoured.


The natives say that the first thing
the guaniOnien does is TO take out the
eyes of the monkeys they catch. But
there must be fearful struggle, for
these mOndis are powerful beasts. and
do not die at the eagles will. There
must be great trial of strength, for If
the monkey is not seized at an exact
place on the neck he can turn his head
and then infiicts Il fearful bite on the
breast of the eagle, or on his neck or
leg, which diSables his most terrible
enemy. and then, both falling, meet
their death.


looked on withou, firing. The mon
keys seemed paralzed with fear when
the eagle came down upon them, and
did not move until after the bird of
prey had taken one of their number,
and then decamped. When | looked
for them they hal fed to parts unknown
10 me in the forest. | was looking 80
intently at the eagle and its prey that
for a while had forgotten the mondis.
DO not wonder AT il, for monkeys !
could see often, but il is only once in a
great while that such scene a. ! Wit
messed could be seen by man. Ii was
grand; and | wondered not that the
natives called the guanionien the leop-
ard of the air.-P9al dH ChGdlH.