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This matter of the origin or demise of the philly-loo bird seems to have been disturbing the peace and tranquillity of not-a few Coronans, who since a recent effusion in these columns stalled folks to delving into bird lore for information on the subject. If the unnatural history which various and sundry individuals have dug up for us is of any value to the situation then we should be glad to have been of some service. Mayor Colbern, who previous to his coming to Corona was a habitat of the: plains of -Montana and in work on one of those large ranches whore you start out where you are going today and reach your restination tomorow, was an eyewitness to the activities of many of these piiilly-loos. In support of his (cntcntion that he wav right, he springs on us a copy of the Harlowtown. Montana Times, which says in part:The editor of a Southern California newspaper tells how to 1 catch a wampus, an animal which [grows in the Florida Everglades,, and is about as big .as a hooghv hug, with a long tail like a colly-i wop. He also tells how to trap a whiffenpoop, an amphibean something on the grampus order, with a two by four and a bag of peanuts, and then asks somebody inthe Roeky Mountain belt to volunteer some information regarding the philly-loo bird. -We will ; try to tell what little we know of the fauna of this feathered vertebrate. . It (inhabits :the .Little Belt mountains •’west of HarloW-toWn, Mont., and subsists principally supon .grizzly bear and mountain lions. It is claimed that its ■method of corralling its prey is very simple. It sprinkles a few drops of near beer, for which it makes a special flight to Salt •Lake 'City, .Montana being a pro* hibition state, upon the tail of the bear and of the lion. Both t of these animals have an innate fondness for near beer, and after -being sprinkled they smell each --other a long way off. Each attacks the other in the rear and begins to swallow his adversary’s 'tail. This process is 'kept up until practically the whole body of the dion is inside the bear lt;that, of the bear inside the lion. i At this moment , the philly-loo bird, which has been rubbering from a nearby peak, comes along, seises the void, takes it iback .to his aerie, cuts .it up into vacuums which .he consumes at his leisure. There are many other interesting points about The philly-loo bird, ffor instance it generally flies upside down which enables it to absorb more violet rays from the blue sky, and thereby stave off rheumatism. This method of flying also contributes to tthe scarcity of ornithological knowledge among hunters as to its habits, and renders it almost impossible to get hold of a specimen, for when one is. winged or otherwise injured in the air, it falls up.Another authority, who disputes the word of Bob Loman, verified more or less by Jeff Man-love, both of whom haled from Missouri, that the philly-loo bird was used in the early times, be fore the coming of machinery for reaming out corn-cobs, is Coach Hancock of the high school. He likewise haled from Missuori. “’Tis not a philly-loo at all,” avers the able and affable schoolmaster. “It’s a gilly-loo,” anil in substantiation of his statement offers the following clipping, declining to state front’ where or whence it came.“I have read with much interest the authorities which you quote on the philly-loo, and especially regarding the extinction of the boiri, and if I hasten to point out several glaring inaccuracies, please believe that it is not done in anger, nor even in sorrow—I like to do it. The bird in question is not a philly-loo bird at all; its habitat is not in Montana nor the Dakotas, and it is not extinct. Otherwise the articles show admirable truth to nature and fidelity to fact. The birds correct name is gilly-loo, derived .from its plaintive cry which may be heard just at sunset on any summer evening in the lake country of northern Wisconsin. And if the bird himself doesn’t know what his own name is, what prairie editor shall undertake to tell him? Fondness of the gilly-doo for doughnut holes is nature’s (provision for maintaining inflation of a sort of pneumatic inner tube that aids the bird in swimming, continues the school man. I can vouch for this •peculiarity because I know that if our cook threw out any doughnuts with holes, the gilly-loo would descend in flocks and devour the whole. The gilly-loo birds are related to the wold cold-shuts and fuzzy billed sidewinders. The last named is larger than the gilly-loo and when emboldened by numbers and driven by hunger has been known to attack an unarmed swamper. This vis so well understood by the old hands that newcomers in camp are always warned.Several other authorities have 'from time to time, informed the philly or gilly-loo editors hereabouts that were wrong in the origin and demise of the bird in question, hut their statements have been so unreasonable tna-we have declined to publish same. However, with the two. eminent authorities quoted today. it. should settle the question locally for all time and not make it necessary for us to return to the subject.Main street of Beaumont is , now being repaved with one-way .traffic in effect for about three 1 blocks. ; , . ■ i
Newspaper Details
Corona Courier
Corona, California, US
Fri, May 03, 1929
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Las V.
NV, USA 15 Nov 2024
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