OCR Text |
Show Tree Death Trap for Birds. Queensland. Australia, has a curious tree which ensnares and kills insect 1 life and sometimes birds also. A ! traveler says of It: "The seed vessels j of the Queensland upas tree, 'Ahmoo' of the blacks (Pisonia Brunoniana), j which are produced on spreading leaf-! leaf-! less panicles, exude a remarkably vis-j vis-j cid substance approaching birdlime In consistency and evil effect. Sad is the ; fate of any bird which, blundering in j its flight happens to strike against any of the many traps which the tree in unconscious malignity hangs out on j every side. In such event the seed j clings to the feathers, the wings be-j be-j come fixed to the sides, the hapless bird falls to the ground and as it struggles heedlessly gathers more of 1 the seeds, to which leaves and twigs ; adhere, until by aggregation It is inclosed in-closed in a mass of vegetable debris as firmly as a mummy in its clothes." |