50 Director's A)uiual Report. 



where footholds were wanting, pulling ourselves up by our hands 

 here, slipping back there, passing the dogs over the dangerous 

 places, encouraging them over the hard ones, panting, wringing 

 wet, and all but exhausted, we at last reached the top where the 

 crest of the ridge slopes down a few hundred feet before it pitches 

 off for a perpendicular drop to the floor of the beautiful balloon- 

 shaped valley two or three thousand feet below. The crest of the 

 ridge, here as elsewhere, is overgrown with the usual jungle of 

 vines, ferns and trees which hide the steep, broken — often danger- 

 ous — irregularities of the rocks which it covers. 



For the next six hours we ranged over the mountain side, each 

 of us following as best he could, some one of the dogs. Over the 

 cliffs and down the valleys they ran in ever>- diredlion, sniffing 

 here, digging there, until finally on locating a bird they would 

 bark for help. 



Digging out an Uau is not the easy and pleasant task one might 

 imagine. As a rule the}* make their burrows under the spreading 

 surface roots of trees — sometimes going back under them several 

 feet from the mouth of the burrow. Occasionally they select a 

 crevice in the. broken rock or underneath a boulder that is over- 

 grown with roots and vines, so as to resemble, in its essential 

 features, the site just described. Rareh^ — almost never — are they 

 found nesting on the surface of the ground, even though it be 

 covered with vines and undergrowth. Having located the burrow 

 and opened it up for a distance, it is often then difficult to find the 

 bird, for the holes are usually natural ones that follow the roots in 

 various directions, and at most are only appropriated by the bird 

 and modified to its iise. But once the hand touches the bird there 

 is no further doubt concerning its whereabouts, for on being dis- 

 turbed they bite with their hooked, pincer-like bills, and kick and 

 scratch with their feet most savageh-. Once the bird is in hand 

 it is easily despatched by the native hunter in a neat and efficient 

 manner. The forefinger is violently forced down the bird's throat. 

 It is then slightly bent at the first joint so as to catch the heart 

 and lungs, which are given a slight twist and sharp pull, with the 

 result that the bird dies instantly, with scarcely a struggle. 



One can with practice, imitate the Uau's call very closely. 

 This ruse w^as continually resorted to by the natives. Their efforts 



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