The hooded pitouchi (pronounced pit-o-hooey) is a bird about the size of a blue jay and lives in New Guinea. Its coloring is a brilliant combination of orange and black. The amazing thing about this bird is that it relies on poison to make its enemies leave it alone.
How does the poison work? Actually it is a very fine substance (like talcum powder) that clings to the surface of its feathers. Any enemy that gets its mouth around any part of its body immediately lets go and hurries away from the awful poison flavor.
Natives call it a “rubbish bird” and carefully remove all feathers when preparing one for dinner - taking the skin off as well - before roasting or stewing the meat that tastes just like chicken. Incidentally, there are two other varieties of the hooded pitouchi that do not have this poison on them.
In the forests of Trinidad there are some long-tailed birds known as violaceous trogons. They are very pretty, with tails black on top and striped like a zebra underneath. The rest of their feathers are a mixture of brilliant colors.
These birds often perch on the limb of a tree close to the ground, carefully studying a large, active ant’s nest below them. Suddenly one will fly directly to it, shoving head and shoulders into the nest, disturbing the ants. Soon it becomes covered with them, even spreading its wings out and allowing the ants to crawl on and under the exposed feathers.
This is all done very quickly, and then it flies back to its roost with many ants clinging to it. Why does it do all this? It is thought that when the trogons get mites or other insect pests that irritate them or cause their skins to itch, they sense that the ants with their poisonous bites will go after the pests until they are all gone.
It’s not known what the trogons do about the ants after they eat all the pests, but perhaps they fly to the ground again and shake them off so most of them can return to their nest.
The opening Bible verse tells us that our tongues can be full of “deadly poison.” Verse 15 also tells us that this does not come from above (from heaven) but is earthly and is from Satan. Verse 17 explains that that which comes from God is pure, peaceable, gentle and full of good works. And that’s what He likes to see in each of us. Is your tongue like verse 15 or like verse 17?
FEBRUARY 13, 1994
ML-02/13/1994