| Show I 1 1 LONEL NEb GOETHALS as civil I 1 afi governor of the canal zone colonel COLO w has han adhered ered to tile the policy lie maintained during the engineering york in tile region ahat that the limus shall bo be a gaino gamo pre preserve servo and tho the zone Is proving a rich held field for several months ago 11 II ni anthony acco accompanied nipa an expedition to tile tho zone and in tho the american Alus museum curn journal lie he writes interestingly of what ho he found thero there it was expected mays anya mr air anthony that faunal conditions in III tile tho canal zone would bo be undergoing abrupt changes change 3 because ot of the damming ot of gatun galun lake and the tho consequent ox ex high water IF froat rom a basin basill with no take lako worthy ot of the name with standing water confined largely to marshy areas except during tha her height of tho the rainy season tile tho galun gatun region has been transformed by tho huge dam at the locks into a lake ot of square miles in extent and a depth of to 70 to tn go 80 feet in many places animals seek new homes this flood flooding leg of ground formerly high and dry it was anticipated would drive many animals to seek now new homes or might even threaten some of the more restricted lowland living animals with extermination incidentally ci many of the islands and ridge crests left above water might have a concentrated fauna driven there re from the adjacent flooded total local titis other phases of tile the question dealing with the newly created lake etire the wiping out of tile tho lowland forests by submergence the rise ribe of now new aquatic flora flom such as aa tho the water ha canth end and the probable inhabitation of the lake by water birds such were some of tile the items in the purpose ot of the expedition and we were equipped to take advantage of ahloe now new conditions if the foregoing oa as proved correct As gatun galun lake was the center of at investigation it was planned to work trum from 0 houseboat as aa a base camp with a launch and small email boats for tide trips late afternoon of march 6 saw law us le leaving a diug gatun galun with the houseboat and by three the next morning tied up at the head tor of a waterway or trocha that branched off from the rio trinidad this was our aan main camp and we hoped to be able to work the undisturbed jungle from here black howler monkeys it was at this spot that we made the acquaintance of the largest of the panamanian monkeys the black howlers bowlers how lers ii frequently their queer booming roaring loarl ng howl echoed through the jungle call that carries tor for long distances they howl ott oft enest just juat before or during a rain min storm and the natives taits look upon them an aa weather prophets upon one occasion I 1 stood almost under some trees through which a troop was passing pass lne while to tile the farst rat big preliminary drops of a sudden shower pattered upon the leaves about me lue the volume of sound that issued from tho the black shaggy throats was so 50 great and so suggestive suggest lva of a large animal a lion for example that I 1 found it hard to reconcile myself to the actual facts I 1 felt a 9 pang of ro gret eret at silencing one of t the be bowlers howlers how lera lers but its as in R specimen was needed I 1 shot one of tile the foremost forem pst and heard him crash through the limbs to the ground pangs of a more effective sort bort veto bete experienced when my native boy and I 1 attempted to retrieve the monkey for or he had fallen unde underneath rn eath abbes nest the size of a bushel basket and wo we found the nest too late to avoid it other interesting mammals encountered hero were the pretty squirrel like ke marmoset the me short haired ant enter eater and several species of opossum while wo we continually athe variety of tho the bird wo lifo arid tho ui diversity of tho the bird songs and call notes the noisy parrots that shouted tu in tho morning until tho the jungle rang with their tumult tho the grof grotesque esquo toil cans which at times vied with the parrots the ca calling ailing of 0 tho the parra koota keets and tho the peculiar caoru 8 like c calls a tiff 0 of tho the chachalaca or wild turkey pro duaei nn in impression that must over ho bo associated with jungle memories at night mysterious noises wore vere heard from unknown sources and ono one weird laughing call tu in particular caused con lecture jecture to run rite there being as all many opinions as thoro there wore listeners besides the work done on the rio iho trinidad several beveral long tri trips ps by launch were made up tip the rio Cl changres ingres ono till na far up tip tho the river as ag the launch could ascend and two others up tile the hlo 1110 Chill britto to some como limestone caves tor for bats jungle almost impenetrable whenever one left the waters of gatun galun lake tho the bonso beneo unaltered lun juh glo gle was at once encountered and no matter how much its beauty was to ho be admired from the boat its Impe netra ability was na no less to ho bo deplored it was waa useless to attempt to leave tho the trail without recourse to tho the machete the long brush knife of latin america and many vero the varieties of briers and thorns thorna to bo be avoided once into tho the thick growth of at the jungle the tha hunter found it necessary to stand minutes in ono one spot in order to look into all the arboreal nooks and cran tiles so BO many wore were the possibilities su so many tho the great orchid covered llinda and wide britti branching ching trees and so loath to move the denizens of the jungle tile tho orchids and epiphytic air plants were very abundant and became so heavy a burden at times as to break down the limb or oven even tho entire broo that harbored them and alid not infrequently I 1 witnessed the downfall ol of some tree overburdened in this man N T THC ner once indeed warned by a premonitory cracking I 1 was waa forced to move with considerable speed to es ea 4 apa pe a flying limb mosquitoes this the former bano 1 ly canal days were found but sparingly even outside the district ol of government patrol we were both bothered ereO but little by them although we wert were told that later during the rainy season they were much worse A few were encountered where mosquitoes wore were bothersome thus arguing a local distribution the ticks and red bugs however made up in diligence for any slights we might feel we had bad suffered from not being met by mosquitoes qui toes the jungle everywhere seemed to harbor these pests and they did all ail they could to make life miserable for us ua ants anta also were found in abundance and it was fortunate in deed that our camp was a floating one and thus cut of off from inroads of these nul pancea one species of ant in particular will be long remembered by two members of the party for it stung with a venomous vigor never equaled by a any it y bee and made the victim im aguno he had bad been struck by a snake at least concentration of animal life had taken place at the rising of gatun galun lakes lake and most of the islands formed had bad many inhabitants at first the gatun galun hunt flunt club however soon reduced the pop population populate 0 n of these islands by aunt hunting in them with hounds and as the quarry in most instances could not leave th island the was a clean sweep ol 01 all the larger species |
