bushels. This is, of course, far below 

 the actual requirements of the popula 

 tion, even when supplemented by other 

 vegetables and fruits. Maize, next to 

 rice, is one of the mort important of 

 the grain products of the Philippines, 

 and the sweet potato follows maize in 

 turn. Fruits grow in great abundance, 

 bananas heading the list. Large quan 

 tities of sugar cane are grown, but ow 

 ing to crude methods of manufacture, 

 the sugar is inferior in quality and is 

 sold for a low price. Cotton is not as 

 valuable a product for the islands as it 

 once was, owing to the successful com 



petition of British fabrics. Formerly 

 indigo also was one of the important 

 products of the islands. Coffee planta 

 tions thrive well, but the coffee is not 

 of the best quality and the plantations 

 are not well managed. In most of the 

 islands of the archipelago tobacco is 

 grown and over one hundred million 

 cigars are annually exported from 

 Manila. The shipment of leaf tobacco 

 averages about 20,400,000 pounds. The 

 islands also furnish spices and medici 

 nal plants are abundant, but most of 

 them are little known. 



HONEY BIRDS. 



THERE are in Africa, Australia, 

 and in South America certain 

 birds, evidently not related or- 

 nithologically, that, because of 

 their peculiar habits, are known as 

 "honey birds," the special traits of 

 which afford an interesting study in 

 animal reasoning or instinct, as one 

 may choose. 



One of these, the species common to 

 a large area in Central and South 

 Africa, mentioned by many travelers, 

 has been briefly described by that 

 prince of realists, Dr. James Johnston 

 of Brownstown, Jamaica, in his superb 

 work, "Reality vs. Romance in South 

 Central Africa, "on page 106. He says: 

 "Our daily meeting with the honey 

 birds served to remove any skepticism 

 I may have had in reference to this 

 cunning little ceature. It is not much 

 larger than a canary, and as soon as 

 man makes his appearance hops from 

 branch to branch, making repeated 

 flights toward the traveler and then 

 flying off in the direction in which it 

 appears to wish attention attracted, 

 with a sustained chic en, chic-en, chic- 

 chur, chur, returning again and again, 

 until its opportunity is awarded by 

 someone accepting its invitation to 

 follow to the spot where is stored the 

 to it inaccessible treasure. It makes 

 a great fuss, flying round and round 

 and round, leaving no doubt as to the 

 whereabouts of its find. Sometimes 

 there is no opening to be seen, when 

 the native proceeds to tap upon the 



trunk with the head of his hatchet until 

 he locates the hive. He then obtains 

 the honey by making a fire at the root 

 of the tree, and, under cover of the 

 smoke, with his hatchet secures the 

 prize. Then is revealed the reason for 

 the excitement of our tiny guide, who 

 now comes in for its share of the pick 

 ings." 



Several explorers whose good for 

 tunes have taken them well into the 

 interior of the Australian bush have 

 described the somewhat similar actions 

 of a species of bird spoken of as being 

 "nearly as large as a crow" and evi 

 dently quite distinct from the African 

 species. In Haiti I have had oppor 

 tunities of observing the like perform 

 ances of a bird, shy and elusive for the 

 most part and only at all approachable 

 when the presence of honey renders it 

 bold, which appeared to be closely re 

 lated to our northern cedar bird. And, 

 if an eye not specially trained in orni 

 thology be not at fault, the same spe 

 cies is to be observed on the mainland, 

 along the middle reaches of the Ori 

 noco, in Venezuela. 



October turned my maple's leaves to 



gold; 

 The most are gone now; here and 



there one lingers; 

 Soon these will slip from out the twig's 



weak hold, 



Like coins between a dying miser's 

 fingers. 



T. B. Aldrich. 



116 



