Of the great
host it destroys, all save a few may be very small and very feeble, and
from the human standpoint some of its death-dealing is perfectly
justifiable if not laudable. Not often, locally, is a bird destroyed,
but the fact that occasionally one has the ill-luck to fall foul of it
and to perish miserably in consequence, places the tree in the catalogue
of the remarkable. Neither spike nor poison is used nor any sensational
means of destruction but nevertheless the tree is sure and implacable in
its methods.
The seed-vessels of the Queensland Upas-tree, "Ahm-moo" of the blacks
(PISONIA BRUNONIANA), which are produced on spreading leafless panicles,
exude a remarkably viscid substance, approaching bird-lime in
consistency and evil effect. Sad is the fate of any bird which,
blundering in its flight, happens to strike against any of the many
traps which the tree in unconscious malignity hangs out on every side.
In such event the seed clings to the feathers, the wings become fixed to
the sides, the hapless bird falls to the ground, and as it struggles
heedlessly gathers more of the seeds, to which leaves and twigs adhere,
until by aggregation it is enclosed in a mass of vegetable debris as
firmly as a mummy in its cloths.
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