Missing 'Poon Ibis Linked With Hemingway's Crash

ENTEBBE, Uganda, Jan. 26--First reports in over six months of the Lampoon's long-missing Ibis came to light today when adventuring author Ernest Hemingway's party told the Associated Press here that a metallic-tinged beast had led the flock of jungle birds that downed their plane last Saturday.

There was some confusion in the Hemingway camp last night over whether the report was accurate or not. Hemingway at first did not mention the bronze-colored bird in his reports to the press, but later admitted he was in the rear seat and had not actually been able to see the flock as it dove in on the low-flying craft.

". . . Hemingway said the blue and white Cessna crashed when it dived at low altitude to avoid hitting a flock of flying ibises--jungle birds big enough to smash the canopy of the plane. . ." (N.Y. Times, January 26, 1953, page 25, section C).

There was no disagreement, however, that the huge, frenzied birds were intent on wrecking the author's blue and white Cessna. Mrs. Hemingway, who first saw them approaching and pointed them out to the pilot, said she thought nothing of them until she noted the leader--glittering in the African sun--break from formation and head straight for the plane. The other black and white birds immediately followed.

Seemed Trained

The big creatures swooped down on the hedge-hopping Cessna, forcing it to crash-land on an elephant track, or else be demolished by the flock. Both pilot and wife noted that the Ibis leader seemed especially trained for his performance, and speculated that he may have been sent out by some group intent on ridding the world of perhaps the Twentieth Century's most talented author.

Leading ornithologists in this country and England reported that the only metallic Ibis known to exist has been held for several years by the Lampoon, but that the bird has been mysteriously missing from its accustomed perch atop the building on Bow St. for over half a year.

Authorities and private detectives hired by Hemingway to solve the mystery reported late last night that the Lampoon was bolted at every entrance, and that members refused to open up or answer questions over the constantly ringing phone. If the organization does not produce some sort of explanation by this morning, detectives said they would resort to flying wedges and battering rams to invade the nest.

Just why the Ibis was loosed against. Hemingway seemed at first inexplicable