"Birdlime," made out of the viscid sap of certain trees, is occasionally used to capture small birds.
TRAPPING
TRAPPING CEREMONIES AND TABOOS
As on all occasions, the invocation to the turtledove, the consultation of its cry, and the betel-nut offering to the forest deities of the locality are performed at the outset by the prospective trapper. The omission of the last ceremony might expose him to the danger of being speared by his own trap.
I observed in several districts the use of an ordinary toy magnet,40 as a charm 41 to insure success in trapping, but I suspect that belief in the efficacy of the magnet was inspired by some inventive trader who wanted to dispose of his magnets with more dispatch and at a bigger gain. The use, however, of magic herbs 42 is said to have been learned from the Mamánuas and is resorted to in the eastern parts of the middle and lower Agúsan. I was afforded no information either as to the names or the nature of the herbs used. They are carried around the neck carefully concealed.
40Bá-to báni.
41Súm-pa'.
42Sin-lá-ub.
The male priests and the warrior priests invoke their respective tutelaries before a trapping expedition and the manikiad43 calls upon the emissary44 of the war deities. The trapper sets a sign 45near his house upon his departure. This consists of a bunch of grass or twigs ti'ed to a stick, and is an intimation to passers-by of his absence and of the reason for it. He then sets out for his trapping grounds, but if on the route he meets anyone he must return to the house at least temporarily,46 for otherwise he would catch nothing in the traps.