Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — Spiders that Trap Birds. [ARTICLE]

Spiders that Trap Birds.

Kangaroos are not the only curious animals to he found in Australia/ Spiders of enormous Size and strength grow there. W. J. Rainbow, the naturalist, wlio has devoted his attention to the animals of that country, tells of spiders as large as birds which construct webs of enormous size, some measuring as much as thirty feet across. In building the webs the spiders use two kinds of silk. One white, dry and somewhat brittle, is used for the framework of the net and for the guys and supports. The other kind is yellow, excedingly viscid and elastic. Sometimes the nets are close to the ground, and at. other times several feet high, but they are always constructed so as to be exposed to the rays of the sun. "While the traps are set for Insects, they are strong enough to hold small birds which become entangled in the clinging strands, and are soon helpless and are easily dispatched by the spiders, Mr. Rainbow says that he does not believe that the spiders eat the birds after catching them. Spiders have been known to attack birds which have thus been caught and speedily put thorn to death, but it is thought that this is done to prevent injury to the webs, and not with a view of securing the bodies of the fea’thered victims. It seems that these large spiders eat largely for the pleasure it affords them. They are exceedingly voracious, and will consume several times their own weight in food within twenty-four hours, when it can be had. But if forced to do without, they can live for many days without either food or water. This indicates that they disobey the old maxim and live to eat, instead of eating to live. Nearly all tropical countries produce giant spiders, the Fiji Islands being particularly well stocked. Graffe tells of a net he found there which was more than thirty feet across, and must have contained several miles of silk. The labor of spinning the web as well as of arranging it was something enormous. The spiders are fairly intelligent and are easily tamed.