while the most impressive, though not pleasing to the eye, is the Barking Spider, sometimes name the Bird Eating Spider. Yes, the do make a barking sound and they do eat small birds, lizards etc.

I encountered a man who kept one of these as his pet, a gigantic female he called Terrosita.  For all their horrid looks, they aren’t dangerous to humans and will flee rather than fight.  Their venom isn’t deadly to humans, although they can dole out a painful bite if necessary.  I allowed Terrosita to climb from my hand to my shoulder, whereupon I requested the man quickly remove her.  For her size, she was amazingly light weight and didn’t feel prickly from the hairs.  All I felt were her dry footpads.  

One days when my children were small we were all in the house together and Ihappened to hear a strange high pitched sound which was new to me. It was repeated a few times and I guessed that it may have been a bird. So I told my children to listen to the sound and then to go out and see what kind of bird was making it.

On returning they told me that it was a spider. Don’t be silly, I told them, and sent them out again to observe. This was repeated. Then a third time I told them to go out, but this time they protested that I should look for myself.  Behold there he was perched on a timber pole (the type you tether your horse), large as life. We waited for the sound again and sure enough
it came as his body vibrated vigourously along with that same high pitched sound. We left him to his vibrations and he soon disappeared. Fascinating to watch!

On another occasion we only heard him by did not see. We were showing an Englishman holidaying in Oz around our property. As we walked alongside a fence, our guest would rest his hand on top of the upright fence post. One was hollow and his middle finger went into that hollowed log. There was an unearthly “bark” from inside the log, and the man jumped high and away. He didn’t repeat the performance.