The Red Birds Of Paradise Are Not Shot With Blunt Arrows, As In
The Aru Islands And Some Parts Of New Guinea, But Are Snared In A
Very Ingenious Manner.
A large climbing Arum bears a red
reticulated fruit, of which the birds are very fond.
The hunters
fasten this fruit on a stout forked stick, and provide themselves
with a fine but strong cord. They then seep out some tree in the
forest on which these birds are accustomed to perch, and climbing
up it fasten the stick to a branch and arrange the cord in a
noose so ingeniously, that when the bird comes to eat the fruit
its legs are caught, and by pulling the end of the cord, which
hangs down to the ground, it comes free from the branch and
brings down the bird. Sometimes, when food is abundant elsewhere,
the hunter sits from morning till night under his tree with the
cord in his hand, and even for two or three whole days in
succession, without even getting a bite; while, on the other
hand, if very lucky, he may get two or three birds in a day.
There are only eight or ten men at Bessir who practise this art,
which is unknown anywhere else in the island. I determined,
therefore, to stay as long as possible, as my only chance of
getting a good series of specimens; and although I was nearly
starved, everything eatable by civilized man being scarce or
altogether absent, I finally succeeded.
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