es tere ali est eee iets Smithsonian Institution ibrartes Alexander Wetmore 19406 ee 1953 ih A if ‘ _ a e TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Te Oe Per A ay) aie NAR Vr GA Rt y a ave Aa oe 4 OP en ee Phe iar eh. oiler ie ip hal ri bar] A (Page 199) MEXICAN MOTMOT. THE PENDULUM ON THE SWING TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO BY . WILLIAM BEEBE Curator of Ornithology of the New York Zoblogical Park and Life Member of the New York Zoological Society ; Member of the American Ornithologists’ Union ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS FROM LIFE TAKEN BY THE AUTHOR BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY Che Hiverside Press, Cambridge 1905 SMITHSON LIBRARIES COPYRIGHT 1905 BY C. WILLIAM BEEBE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published September 1905 TO: SAL Yon Wer THE OTHER BIRD-LOVER WHOSE SYMPATHY AND HELP IN THE FIELD AND IN THE STUDY HAVE MADE THIS BOOK POSSIBLE PREFACE HESE chapters on the Nature life of Mexico were written during a trip to that country in the winter of 1903-04. We reached Vera Cruz on Christmas Day ; Guadalajara on New Year’s, from which city we made three camping trips in the vicinity of the Volcano of Colima, in the States of Jalisco and Colima; and re- turning via Vera Cruz, we left that port en route for New York at Easter. The entire trip was so novel, so delightful, so abso- lutely devoid of unpleasant features, and on the whole so inexpensive, that it seemed to me that the know- ledge of such an outing would tempt many lovers of Nature to this neighbouring Republic. As an aid to such Mrs. Beebe has added a chapter on “ How we did it.” Our sincere thanks are due to Hon. Levi P. Morton, Mr. Madison Grant, and Secretary of State John Hay, for letters of introduction which proved invaluable. Of the innumerable courtesies extended to us in Mexico we are especially grateful for the kindness of Gobernador Miguel Ahumada, of the State of Jalisco ; to Gobernador Enrique O. de la Madrid, of the State saad’, PREFACE 3460 of Colima; to the Rev. A. C. Wright and many other friends in the city of Guadalajara; and also for the extreme kindness of Mr. W. D. Murdock and other officials of the Mexican Central Railroad, to whose un- failing courtesy much of the pleasure and the profit of our trip are due. Our sincere thanks are due to General Canada, the American Consul at Vera Cruz, for courte- sies extended to us during our enforced stay in that city. Mr. C. B. Waite of Mexico City has kindly permitted the use of his copyrighted photographs for the front- ispiece and on pages 15, 23, 29, 30, 97, 333, 343, 358, and Mr. R. H. Beebe the use of that on page 71. The illustrations on pages 27, 33, 83, 108, 111, and 125 are the work of Mr. Scott. The other illustrations are photographs of living subjects taken by myself. Parts of certain chapters have already appeared in print in the New York “ Evening Post.” To facilitate reference to the birds observed and to the mammals which we were able to identify on our trip, I have added as an Appendix an annotated list, with reference to pages of the book, thus supplement- ing the Index. In the preparation of this Appendix I am greatly indebted to Mr. E. W. Nelson, of the Biological Survey at Washington, for the identification of specimens. C. WILLIAM BEEBE. = es - K 1s ac SE SHAN wt 7 Sway . WAVES OF THE SEA. . Coast AND TABLELAND . WALKS IN THE Cactus COUNTRY . Oasis AND DESERT . THE Mesquite WILDERNESS . THE MarsHES OF CHAPALA . CAMPING IN A BARRANCA . NATURE NEAR CAMP . NEAR THE TwIN VOLCANOS . THE Magic Poors . ALONG THE STREAM OF DEATH . THE TROpIcs . THe Hor LANDS OF THE PACIFIC . AROUND THE VOLCANO BY MOONLIGHT . How We Dip Ir. By Mrs. C. Wiii1am BEEBE APPENDIX List OF THE BrrDS AND MAMMALS OBSERVED INDEX Mexican Motmot. The Pendulum on the tae ( page 199) Gannet . Living Portuguese Monks -0'-war, Benched Cabbage-palms and Palmettoes along the Florida Goan Pelicans Royal Palms, Havanas Potanico Tardin ie Waaersdad Live Needle Fish : : é Peak of Orizaba Street Scene in Vera Cruz One of the Black Scavengers . Orizaba Mountain through the Clouds The Peak of Ixtaccihuatl. The Sleeping Woman View from Esperanza : : : . Crater of Popocatepetl Cave Dwellers Musicians . Guadalajara Ditch Desert Sparrow Hawk Cuernavaca House Finch Seed-pods Jalisco Pouched Rat A Guadalajara Expressman Guadalajara . The Flying Switch Beited Kingfisher A Pintail Duck Green-winged Teal American Egret Organ Cactus Fossil Tooth of Imperial M ramet m ihe Alvan Desert Green Heron . : : The Barranca of the Rio Saneiage c Nests of Wasps and Sinaloa Wren Frontispiece 102 umes. ILLUSTRATIONS 2 The Mesquite Wilderness La Barca Cathedral, from our Hotel ee Native Sail-boat on Lake Chapala . Palm Log Raft and Ferry near Chapala over the Ris Sante Mexican Fisherman White-fronted and Snow Gay Plaza at Tuxpan Tuxpan Cathedral . Our Pack-train Mexican Goshawk . Mexican Canyon Wren . Elegant Woodpecker Fork-tailed Hummingbird A Goshawk near Camp . Derby Flycatcher Iguana . 3 The Barranca Cave Heliconia Butterflies Our Fortified Camp Long-tailed Blue Jay Roadrunner . 5 : 7 . . Parrot-fruit Tree Parrot Food . Mourning Dove Querulous Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Giraud Flycatcher View in the Barranca Ant-tunnels on a aes: Benito Back View of Mexican M. otmot Motmots’ Tails, Young Male and Adult Feat Twin Peaks of Colima Volcano Ridgway Whip-poor-will Ring-tailed Cat : Nine-banded Armadillo . Broken Tail of Iquana : Daddy-long-legs mimicking Moss some XTi adh mhnnwn wb w& Own = owonos ug ILLUSTRATIONS The Invisible Dragon-fly . : A Leaf Butterfly . 5 : . The Pines of Colima Thick-billed Parrot : Western Mockingbird singing Tuxpan in Early Morning Our Tropical Camp The Giant Fig-tree Mexican Opossum playing “ Possum? Mexican Cacique : . : Pod of Milk-weed Tree . The Cotton Gall The Grotesque Fruit The Wooden Caracara . Head of Caracara : Painted Redstart caught on Thorn : A Trapped Fairy . Texas Kingfisher, fishing on Bry and Ants’ Nest in Tree The Laughing Falcon The Coon Hawk 5 The Skull of a Yaguarondi Boat-billed Heron . Antlers of Brocket . The Harbour of Manzanillo Where Swamp and Jungle meet The Volcano from the City City of Colima in Early Morning . Colima Ground Sparrow Old Spanish Bridge The Old Spanish Highway The Voleano in Eruption The Trail near Tonila The Twin Mountains at Night A Lucky Snap with the Camera wma Xii1 Sporn bo bo bo om oO co =] OL a) . ee he bite Aas 2 Lstey ee eel fey a 2 o ¥v A ‘ ee. 4. : a 4 : a s er felepy, : pe |, = 4 ‘ T etka ‘ 4 fr £ =e r : me) + ba - : at ee ee! TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Somme CHAPTER I WAVES OF THE SEA T was the evening of the seventeenth of December when our steamer passed Lib- erty Statue. A sleety storm drove us into our cabin, where we delved for the hundredth time into our much-thumbed_ bird-books, striving to make real to our imagination the birds we hoped to see, and to attune our ears to the sibilant tones of the Spanish tongue —the language of the country whither we were bound — Mexico, the land of the Cactus and the Caracara. There is one joy of reading, another of painting, and another of writing, but none to compare with the thrill which comes to one who, loving Nature in all her moods, is about to start on a voyage of discovery to a land familiar to him in dreams alone. wuz TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3éeus: Before we had passed the restless waves off Hatteras we became familiar with the flocks of Herring Gulls, as they gleaned the refuse from the wake of the ship. GANNET. A CAPTIVE WILD BIRD The Stormy Petrels, the Ring-billed Gulls and the Gan- nets delighted us, and Black-fish and Dolphins played about us day after day. Farther to the south we disturbed immense flocks of Phalaropes — little sandpipers of the sea — spend- ing the winter far from land. Occasionally the steam- er’s prow bore down upon a solitary Loon, forcing it to dive, and in the blackness of night these brave birds srmedés. WAVES OF THE SEA Wem called to us, their wild laughter ringing out above the whistle of the wind through the rigging. When at last we left behind the zone of winter, the breeze came softened by the balminess which a north- ern sojourner never knows. Vessels built by human hands had been few and far between, but now we passed a real ship of the sea, LIVING PORTUGUESE MAN-O’-WAR, BEACHED a tiny galleon of crystal, which floated by, drifting before the wind, silent as the Flying Dutchman. We were the only ones who hailed it — perhaps the only ones who could call its name—a Portuguese omets: § TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 346i Man-o’-War. Its tiny bladder-sail was buoyant and full- stretched, reflecting all the hues of the rainbow, and the curling tentacles trailed after. At sight of ita thousand memories of palm-studded shores rushed over us, and, looking up, we realized that the mules had slipped past more quickly than we thought, for only a short distance away was the white beach of muid- Florida. It was there— we can discern almost the very spot — that last winter we watched so many hun- dreds of fleets of these selfsame Men-o’-War come to grief, wrecks innumerable, but exquisite even in their death. We now edged inshore still closer. The glass showed every familiar feature; the feathery cabbage- palms, tall and graceful; the dense, stiff palmettoes ; now and then a little cloud of Sanderlings blowing seaward and back again; and, finally, a long dark undulating line, now throbbing with action, now moy- ing smoothly, and we knew that the Brown Pelicans were on the way to their fishing-grounds. A flock of Bluebills passed swiftly, and high over the land hung the Vultures, forever waiting and watching. Once, with the glass, we made out a mass of circling, soar- ing birds. This is the aerial guard of Pelicans watch- ing over their islet in Indian River, where last year we saw hundreds of nests, eggs, and young birds, all crowded closely together on a low island of some three acres’ extent. Through an inlet we caught a WAVES OF THE SEA Simm glimpse of some Wood Ibises, and then began the unin- teresting array of cottages and hotels from Palm Beach southward. Before dark we were passing the Keys, — those magical islands where we had revelled among the CABBAGE-PALMS AND PALMETTOES ALONG THE FLORIDA COAST angel fish, the corals, and the sponges. A. solitary Frigate-bird sailed majestically past in the van of a short, hard downpour of warm rain. In a few minutes all was clear again and a beautiful sunset stained the water crimson and silhouetted the channel buoys, amugée TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3éem: throwing into black relief the Florida Cormorants and Frigate-birds which make these buoys their roost. Alligator Light at last with measured winks gleamed at us from out the darkness, and the warm tropical night wind made of snow and winter but a fading memory. Early in April, when we returned through these waters, we encountered a terrific storm of wind and rain when about one hundred miles east of Jackson- ville. Just before the first squall reached us, a male Hooded Warbler in full plumage dashed to the steamer’s rail, balanced a moment, and hid in one of the life-boats. Five seconds more and the raging wind would have hurled the little creature into the waves. Our first view of Cuba was not an especially roman- tic one, all that was distinguishable in the early morn- ing dusk being the brightly lighted trolley cars moving swiftly along the shore. Later, when we approached the land and the sun rose, we came under the spell of the full beauty of Havana’s harbour. Morro and Punta passed grey and sombre, the white spray of the sea thrown high at their base. Then appeared the white, glistening city, crowding close to the water’s edge, its landward boundary lost in a setting of em- erald hills. We dropped anchor near the bewreathed fighting-tops of the historical Maine, and hastened on shore in a rolypoly “ bum-boat.” sme? WAVES OF THE SEA ¥en After wandering about the city for a while and see- ing the proverbial patios, senoritas, mantillas, and plazas, which for most travellers are the sum total of interest, we took a trolley out into the suburbs, beyond the whitewashed walls and blue blinds, to get a flying PELICANS glimpse of Cuban nature. No feathered creatures, save the ubiquitous Turkey Vultures, appeared until fortune guided us to the Botanico Jardin de Univers- idad, where among the roses and jasmines, the wide- spreading rubber-trees, and stately Royal Palms, we found birds in abundance. Our minds recorded the TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3fanun English Sparrows subconsciously, as from habit we forgot to give this imtruder a place on our list until we left the Garden. A small flock of Anis (Crotophaga ani) — those slender cow-birds of the tropics — kept to the tree-tops. In appearance they were like ema- ciated Grackles with high-arched bills. The Yellow Palm and Myrtle Warblers were abundant, while Cat- ROYAL PALMS, HAVANA. BOTANICO JARDIN DE UNIVERSIDAD mumudés. WAVES OF THE SEA birds, Mockingbirds, and Redwings were in lesser num- bers. Ground Doves scurried about, and a single American Pipit walked ahead of us along the gravelly paths. Several vireos and other small birds passed too quickly for identification. Two Orioles, with the black throats of their second year’s plumage, were dusted thickly with yellow pollen, making them of a beautiful golden green colour. These birds were remarkably tame and allowed us to come within four or five feet of them. Skinks and other small lizards were everywhere, and the brush-piles rustled with their scurrying. Twice in succession I saw a small green lizard attacked and driven out of sight by a large violet-winged ichneumon fly. Forced to be satisfied with these meagre notes of Cuban life, we hastily returned to the steamer and soon afterward weighed anchor. Half an hour before we left the harbour, tiny bats began to fly swiftly past us, with a remarkable, unbat-like directness of flight. Within twenty minutes, hundreds passed by, —coming, perhaps, from some desolate coral cave along the coast and heading straight inland. Through- out our first night on the Gulf, and all the next day, rolled by a heavy ground-swell, our vessel steamed due west. Although birds were unaccountably absent during this portion of our trip, thew place was taken by winged creatures of the sea —our first Flying-Fish. ee oh J Bovnnmnne meecé TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO feu And how curious they are; descriptions and drawings being powerless to give any adequate conception of them in life! Probably the astonishment which one feels at be- holding a fish desert its element, to which it seems so helplessly bound, and skim lightly as a bird, yard after yard through the air, is no less in a well-read student of fishes than in a person who has never heard of such a phenomenon. From the bow we watched the tiny grey forms, which shot ahead just below the surface, suddenly emerge, the four great fins instantly spreading taut. The smaller posterior pair fold up and close occasionally, but the pectoral ones remain expanded. A fresh impetus is sometimes gained by a second’s touch of the tail to the crest of a wave, a frantic wiggle sending the little creature up and on again. But soon strength and momentum give out and the flight ends in an unlovely flop into the water. Some of the Flying-Fish seem but half an inch in length, — from our lookout they are hardly larger than blue-bottle flies, — while the largest may be six or seven inches from head to tail. Similes between marine and terrestrial creatures are often inapt and ill- taken, but no one can deny the resemblance between these fish and the large flying grasshoppers of our summer meadows. The most exciting event of the day proved to be the discovery of several waterspouts — great Atlas-like sme 1. ore pillars of ever-moving liquid, joining sea and cloud. The steamer passed through a small one and dissolved it, a sudden torrent of rain representing the synthesis of the watery column. Karly next morning the engines ceased their throb- bing and we swung round from our anchor in the light emerald waters, five miles off shore at Progreso, Yuca- tan. A trip ashore showed a most barren country, sand and dusty mesquite with several scattered palms in the far distance ; no birds, no insects, no flowers. Only the sisal hemp exporter could be interested in the scorching warehouses, and even he seems to yearn to leave the country in company with his fibre. Cows must be a long-felt want in Yucatan, judging from the number which were sent ashore, each mutely pa- tient bovine unresistingly allowing herself to be belted i a canvas sling and hoisted up and outward to the unsteady deck of a lighter. Last of all came several netfuls of new-born calves, their legs dangling help- lessly through the meshes, protesting with shrill, in- fantile bleats at this enforced aerial journey. We heard fascinating tales of primeval forests far in the interior, and ruins of cities built by a diminu- tive race of savages, but our faces were turned toward the setting sun and nothing tempted us aside. Much of interest was to be seen about the ship. The floating garbage attracted thousands of lithe, silvery Needle Fish, looking like tiny editions of Gar- sunnenge [1 Soemnne TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3mm: pikes. These glided past in schools or fought in swarms over bits of meat and bread. Sharks now and then cut the water with their long fins and might be tempted with pork. Red Snappers and Grunts, the latter with beautiful blue and gold-lmed heads, were abundant, and over the stern rail one could soon catch enough for dinner. Many hours after the low coast of Yucatan had sunk below the horizon, two coral islets appeared, — two desolate crescents of sand bravely defying the great waste of waters. Yet they do not deserve the term desolate, for several hundred sturdy feathered beings know these little plots of dry land as home. Booby is the meaningless name by which these birds are known to man, but little care they ; a world of ocean with fish in plenty, a mate, a few square inches of dry sand, and they are happy and content. The steamers which pass now and then might cease to come, mankind and his civilization might vanish from the earth, and the Boobies would miss nothing. They are blood brothers to the Gannets, but are feathered brown above instead of white, and enjoy each other’s com- pany more, flying in long oblique lines close to the water. Now and then one dropped from the flock like a plummet, seized a fish, swallowed it, and rising, caught up with his companions, all of whom were moving steadily onward, paying not the slightest at- tention to the steamer. uuedts, WAVES OF THE SEA 2#8nm: The sun sank into a sea smooth as glass, and when its golden path had faded out, a tiny thread of silver was left, — the thin moon-crescent hung even-balanced in the western sky,—and our last night on the water — our first Christmas Eve in the tropics — was one of enchantment. LIVE NEEDLE FISH CHAPTER sit COAST AND TABLELAND lite all our alertness and despite much peering through glasses on Christmas morning to catch the first glimpse of the MIO AVS VAX most profoundly deceived and tricked by Mother Na- ture. No horizon was ever more closely scanned than was that in the path of our steamer, but when a dark low Mexican coast, we found ourselves and ominous-looking cloud slowly rose ahead, we were fain to give up the attempt, supposing that the approaching storm concealed everything beneath it. Idly watching the dark clouds as they gained in size and distinctness, the truth suddenly flashed upon me, and if ever my eyes beheld a miracle it was in the fraction of a second in which the rising banks of storm clouds changed to a grand range of lofty mountains, apparently rising abruptly out of the sea. But the end of the miracle was not yet. Surely those fleeey white thunder-caps which edged the apex of the supposed storm and so enhanced the resemblance — these at least must be what they seemed. I strained and strained through the glasses, and, satisfied on this point, was about to lower them, when the scales again were lifted from my eyes, and the magnificent peak of Orizaba, ee %# COAST AND TABLELAND 34Eis forever capped with snow, stood out against the sky like purest crystal. So clear-cut was it that it seemed but an hour or two away in the very path of the steamer. We had expected many pleasures in Mexico, but never such an introduction — as sublime as it was unex- pected. Waite, photographer PEAK OF ORIZABA coma 15) Sommenn TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO “ess: As if to punish us for our extravagant delight, mists and haze soon closed like a curtain over all, to keep the coveted sight from our eyes for days to follow. An hour or two later, we approached the harbour of Vera Cruz, in the teeth of a rising storm, only too real this time. We anchored behind the protecting breakwater and went ashore ina small and shaky boat, which, soon after our landing, was swamped at her Ss? moorings. Within three minutes after reaching shore the wind increased to a hurricane, cutting off all com- munication with the steamer and our baggage. On the strength of the comforting (?) information that it was an unusually severe “norther”’ and would last two or three days, in company with our stranded fellow pass- engers, we sadly sought accommodations in this most overcrowded and unsavoury of Mexican cities. To many of our party, the most enduring memory of these first two dreary days will ever be the stinging storm of flymg sand which filled the air; others will never forget the Vultures which walk about the streets and peer hungrily at the passers-by; I am sure that all will be able to recall the flavour of the paregoric pud- ding (or should I eall it sopa de anise-seed ?) which was the piece de resistance of our Christmas dinner. But our memories are not altogether unpleasant ones. Our pockets were delightfully heavy with great silver dollars and other denominations of Mexican money which we had received for our American gold. Some wanedée COAST AND TABLELAND 3s: of this it must be admitted was as soiled in a literal sense as it is described in the proverbial filthy lucre. But then did we not have more than double our orig- inal amount ? And there are few of us who would not STREET SCENE IN VERA CRUZ rather have $2.18 (which was at that time the rate of exchange) than a single dollar, even though it be fresh from the mint! Catching a glimpse from the roof of our hotel of the wonderful surf thrown up at the breakwater to the northward, we made up our minds to see this rainless terrible “norther”’ and its work, face to face. We ee) cee mune TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3¥ésm: found walking little short of torture until we got to windward of the sand dunes outside of the city, where the air was clear, although the wind was so strong that one had to creep on hands and knees. Crouching in the lee of the great breakwater, we watched the tre- mendous waves roll in; vast walls of green and white, which curved and broke twenty feet above the line of ponderous masonry. Vessels would be shattered like glass if they were near shore on the outside, and even in the protected harbour all their anchors were needed. When the waves reached the foot of the breakwater the spray was hurled sixty feet or more into the air, and the sound was like heavy thunder. Now and then huge, handsomely mottled crabs were hurled, frantic- ally kicking, through the air, over the breakwater, and good-sized fish were twice dashed toward us. Other craft than the vessels were riding out the gale near us —a trio of Brown Pelicans, facing up wind, rising and falling on the waves inside the line of fury. They floated upwards a few feet above the water, as we approached, but the strength of the wind beat them down again. The line of froth of the highest-reaching wave on the beach was darkened with the bodies of thousands of insects, victims of the storm — tiger beetles and small moths predominating. Behind tiny clumps of grass along the beach, hard-pressed birds had sought safety, and, when forced out of their shel- ters, half ran, half fluttered to the next bit of weeds. wt: COAST AND TABLELAND Sem Two Wilson Snipe, four Killdeer Plovers, and several small Wilson Petrels were among this gale-stricken assemblage. The strangeness of the Mexicans, and their dress, their houses, streets, and markets were of never-failing HE ait it ae ONE OF THE BLACK SCAVENGERS interest ; but well-written accounts of these may be found in half a hundred volumes. Many of the cus- toms and much of the city life of these people seem half familiar after one has perused such books. It is the outskirts of the towns and beyond that promise the real surprises. We welcomed the first movement of the train which wit wort 19 Borer samt TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Sti: was to bear us to the town of Orizaba; and as we whirled along, we were “ just one large eye.” For the first few miles, sand, sand everywhere, and as we approached the edge of this coastal desert, the ravages of the “ norther” became plainly visible. Far to the north of us, midwinter blizzards were raging; snow was drifting and filling every hollow. Here, although nothing had fallen from the sky, a more deadly bhiz- zard had swept over the land. In some places the sand seemed to have been lifted bodily in great masses by the gale, and carried inland. Fenced-in gardens of vegetables and flowers were a foot deep im level sand, while the sombreroed Mexicans were working frantic- ally with fingers and baskets to remove the deadly weight of stony grains. More than one thatched hut was crushed in to windward by the weight of drifted sand, and many of the banana palms were buried so deep that their low-arching leaves were all held fast. We saw where the natives had erected a stout barrier to protect a little cultivated patch, but this proved merely a challenge which the north wind ac- cepted with fierce joy. It was short work to fill in the windward side with the shifting dust, and then each blast sent a cloud, swirling up the slope to fall over the top like a waterfall—a merciless stream of bhghting sand. The train soon left behind this unpleasant zone of Nature’s warfare, and we passed into dense jungles as # COAST AND TABLELAND Sens tropical as any under the equator. As any zonal map will show, while the North Temperate reaches a chilly finger far southward along the highest slopes of Mexico’s tableland, the Tropics are not intimidated, but threaten indeed to outflank their eternal enemy by sending long slender arms northward up the two coasts, where the breath of the equator defies the frosts of the snow-capped peaks but a few miles away. For mile after mile we rushed on, hardly rising a foot, through fields of tasselled cano azucar (sugar-cane), through groves of banana and cocoanut-palms, and coffee plantations. Marsh and Sparrow Hawks were abundant, and an occasional large yellow flycatcher flashed past. We began to draw near the mountains, which rose high and grand in a single abrupt sweep from the flat hot lands, the tierra caliente, which we had left behind us. At night, in our hotel in Orizaba, we were reminded of our close approach to the cold mountains by a freez- ing wind which lasted until late next morning. Amid hundreds of roses we shivered and shook as we ate our breakfast in the open patio. The insect life of this town must go into a semi-hibernation every night, for I found many species of moths and beetles stiff and numb upon the ground beneath the electric lights. Two large and beautiful sphinx moths (Pseudosphine tetrio) which I held in my hand for some time, revived, and at last were able to fly weakly away. « TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Waiting at the station for the early morning train, 4we saw nothing but lofty mountains on all sides. At the first rays of the sun, the cold night mists drifted away, or, glacier-like, streamed slowly into the deeper valleys, leaving each depression and hollow of the mountain forest overflowing with an intercepted cloud- pool, which in the increasing warmth soon sank into the foliage or was drawn upward into invisibility. Orizaba’s cap of snow, which forever hangs above this little town, — its namesake, — was not visible in the early morning, owing to the mists which filled the upper air. The mountain directly facing the station was not a large one and was near at hand, and when the dense clouds suddenly cleared away, we were astonished to see its blunt summit capped with a dazzling mass of snow. Every detail stood out clear-cut; it seemed as if we might almost walk to the summit, throw a snow- ball into the streets of the town, and return in time for the train. But the mystery of this small, low moun- tain, thus snow-covered, was not solved until we walked afew hundred yards to one side and, to our amazement, the cap of snow had slid a little off the mountain ! The explanation was then clear. Orizaba, although over forty miles away, was directly im a line with the small mountain near the station, and at that place the snow-cap fitted so exactly upon the lesser mass _ that closest scrutiny with the glass failed to show the decep- tion, while the clearness of the atmosphere mocked ne rng 22 Bonnin ; SadNO19 AHL HYNOYHL NIVINOOW VAVZINO roydsisojoyd ‘aye AA suse COAST AND TABLELAND 30 every estimate of distance. Thus Orizaba scored a sec- ond time upon us, putting to naught the evidence of our senses. The town of Orizaba is said to be very healthy, although here, as in Vera Cruz, the sanitary arrange- ments are most primitive, and with the sun come the ebony hosts of the feathered board of health — scay- engers in the shape of Black Vultures and Blackbirds. The ride of the first few hours beyond Orizaba is one of the most wonderful experiences in Mexico, if not indeed in the world, and both words and pictures fail utterly to describe it. The train is drawn by a great double engine, and the grade is remarkably steep. Round and round we slowly wound, in and out of the valleys and mountain clefts, ever higher and higher. First we passed along the bottom of a wide valley; then, leaving it behind, we pierced tunnel after tunnel, five, ten, fifteen, and more, each separated by a beau- tiful vista of the valley below, growing ever more dis- tant. Near the centre of the valley, a tall solitary poplar at the edge of a little pond is a prominent landmark, which comes again and again into view from differ- ent points of the compass. The engines puff laboriously up to a station set deep in the woods, and dark-faced Indian women cluster at the windows holding up gourds of orchid plants or oranges or enchaladus. ‘ Comprar las naranjas ? Favor de comprar las flores ?” they beseech for an interval, and the train passes on. sme Q5 Spon ueegé TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO eum: Half an hour later, another wayside station comes into view and the identical women crowd up as before, with the same baskets and gourds of wares. This shows how laborious and slow was our progress ; the Indian women had run through the woods and now again intercepted us, many miles from the last station, as the track lies. The natives often send freight from place to place, helping to load it on the car, then running by some short cut, beating the train, unloading their baggage, and thus saving all car-fare. At last we were so high that the large cultivated fields looked like squares on a checker-board, and the herds of grazing cattle became tiny black dots. The most wonderful phenomenon of this ascent was the change in vegetation. Oranges and bananas were re- placed by plants of the temperate zone, and before the highest point was reached, the vistas of the tropical lowlands were framed in the needle-tracery of cold- loving pines. Three hours’ travel on this train’ will teach one more of physical geography than three months of study. At Esperanza we were more than a mile above the level of the sea, and here the engines were changed, the big fellows to rest a day and to-morrow to slide gently back to Orizaba. As suddenly as we entered the mountains, so with- out warning we left them and found ourselves rushing along through clouds of dust across a plain, the begin- ning of the great Mexican tableland, which extends sonar oS 96 Downe Seott, photographer THE PEAK OF IXTACCIHUATL: THE ‘‘SLEEPING WOMAN” Pe re ‘ re es i” Pee hp hy i) mami COAST AND TABLELAND 3fésnu= from coast to coast. By far the larger part of this area which is seen from the train may be described as one enormous pulque patch, pulque being the national intoxicating drink. This is obtamed from the maguey plant, great century-plant-like growths which are about the only green things that will grow in Waite, photographer VIEW FROM ESPERANZA this saltpetre-permeated earth. The great spike-leaved plants are placed in rows about ten feet apart in each direction, and for mile after mile, league upon league, these rows reach to the horizon. As the train passes, the radiating oblique lines, focusing at one’s eye, seem to revolve in a continuous, maddening, reeling Sp? whirl. mets, TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Waite, photographer CRATER OF POPOCATEPETL But Orizaba was still in plain sight to soothe the most tired eyes. Lofty, sublime, chaste, it ever stands, with that wonderful character common to snow-capped peaks, of seeming to hang suspended in the air, with no touch of the earth beneath. The old Aztec pyra- mids of the Sun and Moon appeared, and were left behind, and finally the white heads of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl came into view. We found that Ori- zaba had left us few adjectives wherewith to express our admiration of the majestic beauty of these moun- tains, the “Smoking Mountain” and his mate the “Sleeping Woman;” but we began to realize, what became ever more true to us, that the voleanoes and snow peaks of Mexico are among the greatest pleasures COAST AND TABLELAND z=" this country has to give to a lover of God’s Nature. The alkali dust rose thicker and penetrated every crevice until we were almost smothered behind our wet handkerchiefs as we rumbled into the station of the City of Mexico. The capital city is Americanized to such an extent that it lacks the charm of a typical city of either country, and one may find a greater enjoyment and novelty in the more suburban parts, amid the beauty of the Vega Canal, or the stateliness of Chapultepec. Within the grounds of the latter historical place was a pitiful little zoological garden, perhaps the only one in the Republic. Here, in a few small, rickety cages, were some Mexican Deer, Peccaries, dogs, pigeons, and rabbits, a magnificent Harpy Eagle, and a forlorn Lioness. The cathedral, with its softened, incense-laden air, its quiet, impressive hush, so different from the bustle outside, seemed out of place on this side of the globe, so venerable and medieval is the effect it produces. This very day was being celebrated as its three hun- dred and sixtieth anniversary. Occasionally, during our all-night ride westward from the capital, I peered out of the window of the sleeper into the dim light of the mght, but pu/que plants by moonlight were all that rewarded me. With the coming of dawn the country appeared more divers- ified, and fields of maize-stubble alternated with the cere wssnni 31 Spores weg? TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO ein leagues of maguey — enough of the latter, one would think, to provide the whole world with delirium tre- mens. Birds became much more numerous. Cowbirds, in dense, compact flocks of a thousand or more, rose and whirled away in unison, and almost every good- sized tree had a Shrike perched on the topmost branch. The line of Sparrow Hawks on the telegraph wires was unbroken, about one to every eighth pole. They showed not the slightest fear of the passmg train, and left their perch only when some large insect or small bird rose near by. Twice we saw them attack Cow- birds almost as large as themselves, the two falling, fiercely struggling, to the ground. We were told by an engineer who was an accurate observer of birds that occasionally these valiant little hawks were over- come by birds of greater strength than themselves, which they had fearlessly attacked. The momentary glimpse of some small ponds showed a vast assemblage of ducks and wading birds and made us impatient for our journey’s end. We found the Mexicans more and more interesting, and each little station offered something new. Blind musicians, who twanged guitars strung with eighteen strings, and chanted Paloma and other odd-timed Mexican or Spanish songs, were led beneath the windows. We were astonished to hear them all joi at the end in screaming the melody of “ After the Ball is Over,” and we wondered how that time-worn tune could have sang BQ Porras CAVE DWELLERS nudts, COAST AND TABLELAND 3¥enun reached thus far. We were at fault in this, however, for these people have more right to the air than we. The plagiarism lies with us, for the air is an old, old Spanish one, and the musical words which the Mexicans use antedate by many years our frivolous verses. An old man approached and began to imitate famil- iar sounds; a dog’s bark, a cock’s crow, a bird’s trill- ing, were excellently rendered, and cinco centavos made him happy. At each small station the throng was a strange, most picturesque one. Once a young Mexican of twenty or thereabouts climbed on board and walked down the aisle of the car, looking curiously at everything, but never ceasing to knit a gaudy, red sweater-like affair. This feminine occupation was thrown into stronger relief by his large-calibred revolver and embroidered belt of cartridges. The Mexicans ingeniously utilize the large crotches of trees as receptacles for stacks of fodder, and a tree thus filled to overflowing with corn-stalks is a curious sight. The fodder is, by this means, kept out of the reach of hungry cattle and burros. A station often shows nothing but a rickety, shed- like building, the town being at a distance and out of sight. In some cases the natives have reverted to cave- dwellings, hewn into the rocky cliffs, the entrances to which remind one of a colony of Bank Swallows on a gigantic scale. vm woneie BS Povwsnne TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO és All these, and a hundred other impressions, held our interest before we backed down into our last stop- ping-place, the Hstacion de Guadalajara. They lett us with a confused but realistic appreciation of the strangeness and isolation of this sister republic of ours, whose land adjoins us, and yet whose ways and cus- toms are separated from ours by centuries of time and a vast degree of culture. MUSICIANS CHAPTER: Itt WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY ARLY on New Year’s Day we were awak- ened by the song of birds — not the morn- ing carols of those we were so eager to see of elarion tones from hundreds of roosters. Far and near they flapped and crowed and crowed again, and our patio rang with the sound. Before the last few lingering crows died away, dozens of church bells began to toll, some sonorous and slow and others with frantic clangs. Succeeding these, more or less expert buglers chimed in, scores from the various barracks blowing loudly if not well. Apparently the revei//e was the object of most of their efforts, certain individ- uals sounding taps, which made up in vigour of blast what was lacking in appropriateness. Our Guadalajara home was well on the outskirts of the city, in easy walking distance of the transvia, which, behind three galloping mules, shrieked along the uneven rails and afforded rapid transit to the plaza. Several minutes’ walk in the opposite direction, and the narrow street frayed out into a few straggling, thatched huts, beyond which stretched the level sun- tener Wey eee uezé: TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3m: burnt plain which separated the city from the surround- ing hills. The air in early morning was as keen and fresh as that which blows across a Nova Scotia upland, and we forgot that we were well south of the Tropic of Cancer. The pumice which crackled underfoot showed why the poor grass and weeds shrivel at the first lack of moisture at the beginning of this rainless season. There was nothing in the level country extending be- fore us mile upon mile, to suggest that we were at an altitude above the clouds of distant New York — a mile above the sea. We almost expected to see the Mexican clouds appear close overhead, perhaps just clearing the fields as they floated along. But here they were, as high as ever above the ground. A little distance beyond the last hut, we came upon a number of bare-legged, sandalled Mexicans shivering in their red serapes. They had scraped away the sur- face covering of pumice and were grubbing up a bed of clay — literally making “bricks without straw.” This recalls one of the greatest delights of city life in Mexico — the house with a patio or open central court, bright with sunlight all day and glistening in the star- light or moonlight at might. Yet in such a house one lives more secluded than in a solid American dwelling. It is an ideal home for such a climate as this — perpet- ual camping: out. We realized why these adobe houses blended so ioe WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY Sess: naturally into the landscape, seeming more like nat- ural dunes or mounds than artificial productions of mankind. Here we stood and watched these dusky natives hew out the very ground, add a little water, mould into large rectangles, pile one upon the other, and lo! one’s house is built! No wonder the outer walls become lichened and weathered as soon as they are erected. The adventitious vines and weeds which sprout from wall and roof grow from seeds which, hke the Egyptian wheat kernels, may have been long buried beneath the barren pumice. A home well worth living in, where one can plant flowers and vines in the walls from base to roof, where one’s window-pot of bloom may root, not in the pots, but in the very window-sill itself! Why not a kitchen garden growing on the kitchen, where are earthen furrows, instead of lapping shingles ! How close to Nature one seems to live thus! closer to Mother Earth than did Thoreau at Walden ; and yet when this framework of mud is clothed within with clean plaster, in rooms cool-tiled and with ceilings of taut linen, sleep and study and the joy of very life come in pleasantest forms. It is in the making of gardens and to the lover of flowers that one thinks of a patio as ideal. Pitiful is the remembrance of the unfortunate plants which strug- ele for life in the steam-heated houses of the North, when we see our Mexican indoor, open-air garden. vn 39 Bomnnne suns TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3 Coffee-trees are beaded with their red fruit, carnation and geranium bushes reflect brilliant masses of colour. To walk to parlour or dining-room we pass strawberries, great heliotropes, and climbing ferns, and all through the moonlight nights, the odour of unpicked violets and gardenias passes like incense throughout the whole house. What city veranda or back yard can compensate for the delight of being able to recline on one’s couch and watch the wonderful hummingbirds, attracted by the flowers, shoot down into one’s very house, or again in the dusk when those ghosts of hummingbirds — great gray sphinx moths — visit the patio, uncoiling their long tongues and drawing up the sweet nectar from the calyxes ! But to return to the fields which stretched beyond the makers of bricks. It is not difficult to describe a Guadalajara winter landscape where the last drop of moisture fell in October, and the sun shines unclouded by storm until the following June. Here and there, far apart, we saw large mesquite-trees, but besides these the eye rested only on maize-fields, with the brown stalks of the last crop still standing. These fields are divided off, not by fences of stone or wire, but by ditches eight to ten feet in depth and as many wide, while along each side runs a fringe of tall cactus, mak- ing trespassing often a difficult and painful process. These inverted fences are to drain off the excess water cticen A Oh Seance WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY Hem during the season of rains, but we found them useful for reasons of our own. Our progress was at first discouraging. The way was hot and dusty, and the cornstalks crashed under the lightest step, alarming all the birds for yards around. At last, while watching a hummingbird mmm? TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO ems: through my glasses, I slipped and fell into a ditch and I remained there the rest of the day, not because of inability to get out, but because I found these ditches most delightful and profitable places in which to ram- ble. Ramifying as they do about every field, we made our way in any direction without ascending to the ground above. The broad green pads of the cactus arching overhead shut out the glare of the sun, while the lacework skeletons of the fallen leaves made our footsteps noiseless. But all this was to little advantage if these sunken avenues offered no attractions to the birds and other wild creatures. Our most sanguine hopes were realized, as future walks demonstrated. Not only did the birds and small beasts rush to the protection of the ditches when alarmed in the open fields, but here many had their homes, here the birds roosted at night, and a much larger number found their food by day. We might have rambled for weeks through the fields, and have credited this semi-desert region with a much more meagre fauna than was concentrated in these cool and pleasant alleys, where we were as secluded as if miles away from the city, although in reality only a few hundred yards from the end of the streets. The Desert Sparrow Hawks! were as abundant and ' Two Sparrow Hawks which were shot by a young Mexican were typical of the Western race phalena. Whether our common Eastern form was represented we could not determine, as we were not able to distinguish the characteristics in the living birds. THE DESERT SPARROW HAWK nue WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY 3 tame in this locality as all along the railroad from the eastern coast. The little fellows seemed to have staked out claims for themselves, over which each individual held sway, levying heavy toll upon the mice and grass- hoppers within his chosen domain. About every fifty yards along the rows of cactus, a Sparrow Hawk had his perch, from which he occasionally sallied to snatch an insect from the ground. Now and then a Marsh Hawk skimmed past, reflecting in his flight every inequality of the ground. As he passed from the range of one Sparrow Hawk to another, each in turn rose and fluttered above him with complaining cries, and long after the larger but inoffensive bird had passed from our sight, his course might be traced by the suc- cession of irate Sparrow Hawks shrieking their “ chilly- chilly’ at him. The most abundant bird hereabouts was the Clay- coloured Sparrow. It brought to mind the Chipping Sparrow of the North in its tameness and general appearance. Flocks of hundreds of these little birds fed upon the weed-seeds among the dead corn, and after a hawk had passed we might almost step upon scores of them, so closely did they hug the ground in terror. When they rose, it was with a whirr of wings worthy of a much larger bird,a short flight and a swift, long run behind a sheltering furrow. Almost as abundant were the Western Lark Sparrows, haunting the fields and ditches. The handsomely marked head, black-centred breast, and white-tipped tail of this bird make it easy to know at sight. It has not the trace of a crest, yet a habit of often raising the feathers on its head would certainly lead a casual observer to credit the bird with such an ornament. No lover of birds need be ashamed of the exclama- tion “ Purple Finches!” which he would be sure to utter at first sight of the large flocks of birds in the fields, and often in the very streets of Guadalajara. They are House Finches, and although belonging to the same genus and very like in plumage to the pur- pureus of our Northern cedars, yet they are radically different in habits. Like the Bob-Whites and certain other birds, the House Finches of Mexico are split up geographically into eight or nine races, and the sub- species inhabiting this region is designated the Cuer- navaca House Finch. They are the English Sparrows of Guadalajara, and they are indeed a vast improve- ment on that interloper. Their delightful colouring and sweet, warbling song, uttered often from the dusty streets, made us realize all the more forcibly the total lack of charm of Passer domesticus. Sometimes about sunset fifty or a hundred of these House Finches in all stages of colourmg — from brown through parti- coloured hues to pink or deep rose — would rise from the fields and pass with a slow, fluttering flight over our heads westward, all singing their sweetest. It was a most unexpected pleasure, repeated again and again. smusgz WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY 2ée:c: CUERNAVACA HOUSE FINCH Apparently their song was as perfect now in January as during the nesting season, a few months later. Once and once only did I see the Arizona Pyrrhu- loxia in Mexico. My sudden but fortunate descent into the ditch alarmed a pair of birds which flew up and gave me a full view of their beauties — Cardinal-like TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO #é: in action and crest, but a delicate hght gray in colour. The female bird had just a suggestion of rose upon throat and breast, but her mate, perching with half- opened wings, glowed with the pure warm colour from forehead, breast, underwing's, and flanks. After a minute both birds disappeared and evaded all further search. No matter how dried up a place appears, some flower or plant finds nourishment enough to grow, and the ditches and corn-fields of a Guadalajara midwinter were no exception. Tall, thistle-like Mexican poppies sent forth their pale, lemon-coloured flowers, brighten- ing the dusty plain, and among the weeds growing from the sides of the trenches were multitudes of tall stalks bearing long, pendulous, scarlet blossoms, a spe- cies of wild lobelia. Our favourites among the few blossoms of this season were little wild ground ver- benas which purpled the parched furrows in many places. Their leaves were brittle, their roots seemed as dry as a husk, yet they managed somehow to grow and blossom in numbers. The most interesting objects for the botanists were the many curious seed-pods of the weeds and other plants hereabouts, from the great fruit clusters of the castor-oil plants to the tiniest of seed-plumes. As we rambled through the trenches we sometimes brushed against a mass of large golden globes, strung close together along the leafless twigs of the plant — patie ao WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY Sess: brittle and five-sided and as light as air. They re- minded one in shape somewhat of the sea-jellies (Leroé) which drift in the currents of the ocean. And the simile is not confined to the exterior, for within hang's a small round sae containing the tiny flat brown seeds, just as, in certain of the animal jelly-fishes, the pendu- lous stomach is swung. Out of curiosity I counted the seeds in one of these seed-vessels and found two hun- dred and fifty-three. A single branch which I brought home with seventy-nine globes would, therefore, scat- ter some eighteen thousand fruit. The least touch or cates, TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Stem breath of air sets each of these many seeds vibrating within their hollow spheres, producing a sweet, sifting tinkle, comparable to nothing I have ever heard in Nature. In the Guadalajara ditches we began to realize that Mexico isa land of thorns and spines. Indeed the seeds are about equally divided between those furnished with hooks or spines, and those intended to be wafted away by the wind. One low, spreading bush has a double chance for distributing its seeds. When it dries up, the stalk breaks off almost at the first breath of air, and the light, thorny mass, more or less globular in shape, is rolled and tumbled far across the fields. Several times a number of these bushes blew toward us so rap- idly that we could not escape them, although we knew from experience that much time and patience would be necessary to free our clothing from the barbed and rebarbed burrs. How we wished for handbooks to name all the seeds and plants, but the price one must pay for the pleasure of rambling among: birds and flowers in a little-known country is that one must, like Adam, give his own arbi- trary common names to many of the objects he ob- serves. It is very disappointing, too, when one returns and finds that an appropriate title which one has bestowed and which, from daily repetition for months, has become closely associated with the bird or flower, must be replaced by the name of some describer or prefaced, in some instances, by an adjective neither euphonious nor appropriate. The most abundant objects in the ditches were grass- hoppers which tumbled down from the fields above and could not escape. So here the birds found a feast con- tinually renewed, where they might eat their fill from morning until night. The White-rumped Shrikes knew of this ample supply, but had to manceuvre carefully to keep out of sight of their rivals, the Sparrow Hawks. These beautiful butcher-birds kept close to the cactus tangles. Twice we saw small birds attacked and killed by the shrikes, and each time, although the onslaught was made among a large flock of Clay-coloured Spar- rows, it was a Western Grasshopper Sparrow which was the victim. Who can tell the reason for this? Did the glint of gold on the wings of the little finches catch the shrike’s eye, or did some slight lack of skill in dodging turn the balance of fortune against them ? If only we might take, at such moments as these, the “ bird’s-eye-view”” of the shrike, many problems of evolution and the “survival of the fittest” would become plain ! One feathered inhabitant of the cactus ditches eluded identification for a long time. It wasa “chunky” brown bird, looking more like a big female English Sparrow than anything else, but with a knack of slipping out of sight just before one could focus one’s glass. At last we traced it to Pipilo, although it little resembled our sme, TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO aes Northern Chewink in actions. Pipilo fuscus brought us nearer to its special name, but not until later did we learn that its common name was a literal translation — Brown Towhee. While we were in Mexico, it was to us “ Pipilo fuscus,” which slhpped behind the cactus screen or skimmed up and over the adobe walls — more mouse than bird. A closely related but much handsomer bird was the Green-tailed Towhee, not a Pipilo despite his name, but intermediate structurally between the true towhees and the group of White-throated Sparrows. It cer- tainly reminded one of both groups. Like the Brown Towhee it kept to the weed tangles of the ditches where it was easily watched as it fed on the small seeds and the lesser grasshoppers. It is strikingly marked with a rufous, almost red cap, and a white throat, grayish green above and brighter green on the wings and tail. A mewing note, like that of a Red-eyed Vireo, was the most common utterance of this bird. Day after day tiny green-garbed warblers traversed the ditches, confidingly seeking their diet of smallest insects, within a few feet of us. What could they be? We puzzled and puzzled over them in vain. At last I secured one and we made sure of the identification, —scientifically, elminthophila celata lutescens (Ridg- way); commonly, the Lutescent Warbler. To my mind a bird in the bush is worth a whole flock in the skin drawer, but the characters of modern classification smumnge WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY Stes: often require more than the eye and the opera-glass can reveal. And indeed, aside from the delicate grad- ations of colour and form, it is often a most difficult thing to recognize on sight, a bird, the description of which one has read several weeks previously. Some character seems to be added or something lacking, such is the effect of the environment and the excite- ment of seeing a new bird for the first time. We took our meals at the delightful £7 Sanatorio, where one finds a haven of good American cooking in a land of beans and fried unleavened corn-cakes. The two-storied patio was always filled with flowers, great geraniums and heliotropes making the air fragrant by day; and the immaculate cereus blossoms pouring forth their perfume in the moonlight. During Janu- ary and February the entire front of the building was a mass of purple Bougainvillea. What a source of curiosity a naturalist and his wife are to fellow boarders! Many people seem incapable of believing that any one can be so foolish as to waste time in watching birds and insects for mere pleasure. When we would return from one of our camping trips, this one would have a suspicion that I was secretly prospecting for gold; another would be sure that I was surreptitiously locating marketable timber. But finally one and all expressed astonishment that they had been living so long with eyes blinded to the beautiful things of the world. They began to realize that the iundé, TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO birds of the surrounding gardens and fields were more than “just birds;” that they had colours and songs, traits and habits, interesting because of the hidden meanings of each — for protection or recognition, for safety of themselves, their mates, or their young. And behold, the pure gospel of God’s out-of-doors had won more converts! Then they began to flood us with questions. To satisfy them all would have necessitated giving up many walks and rides. So we turned over to them Mrs. Bailey’s ‘‘ Handbook of Western Birds,” which we had found so useful, and many and strange were the discoveries that they made. We ourselves knew only too little about Mexican birds; but when marvellous notes of pink-breasted, blue-eyed hawks and long-legged hummingbirds were given us in all good faith for verification, we gave up. It is indeed remarkable how differently a bird will appear to a num- ber of untrained observers. Whether owing to a wide- spread partial colour-blindness, or to the elusive glints of sunlight on a bird’s plumage, the range of colours and size with which a single unfortunate bird may be endowed, is astonishing ! Although in our walks about Guadalajara we saw thousands upon thousands of cactus-trees, their strange structure and appearance never ceased to impress us. There was nothing to which they could be compared ; the great trunks and massive branches were very dif- ferent from those in our Northern conservatories. Only EEC seu WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY 3: in the tubular yellow flowers does the nopal cactus seem to have affinity with other plants. These flowers spring adventitiously from the sides and edges of the pulpy, spiny pads — one can hardly call them leaves. A discovery which was as interesting to us as though we were the first to record it was that the oval pad is the unit of which the entire tree is composed. The two or three terminal pads were usually bright green and covered with groups of the unpleasant spines. The next was greenish brown in hue, with blunted spines and the succeeding ones merged more and more com- pletely into one another, at the same time becoming thicker and developing a false kind of bark. This resulted in a rough, brown-barked trunk and spineless branches, which appeared identical with those of old, gnarled apple-trees. A close examination would, how- ever, show faint traces, down to the very ground, of the internodes between the units. How curious, too, when a dead branch fell, to see a tightly wrapped bundle of delicate lace fibres instead of splinters and decayed wood. We wondered how the birds could alight so suddenly upon the spiny pads without being wounded. Indeed one Lark Sparrow was impaled as it attempted to dart through a maze of the sharp points. But mockingbirds and towhees, finches and shrikes seemed never to hesitate an instant in perching. Two species of hummingbirds were always to be found along the ditches, conspicuous to eye and ear. mst, TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 3éess: When first we caught sight of a tiny form perched upon a twig, we realized that we were indeed in a new world of birds, for this was no Ruby-throat. To our Eastern eyes this was a strange, foreign bird; but a Californian would have recognized it at once. It was the Costa Hummingbird, like ourselves, a winter visitor to these parts. His mite of a body was green above and whitish below, while his head was encased in a marvellous helmet of burnished violet, an ame- thystine scale armour, which flashed blue, green, and violet by turns. This was the most abundant hum- mingbird of the Guadalajara ditches, during the first week in January. The first individual at which we had a good look proved to be in exceptionally perfect plumage. The others of his kind were young birds in moult, with the iridescent feathers few and scattered, the majority being still buried in their enfolding sheaths. After a week all the individuals of this spe- cies disappeared and we saw no more during our stay. A second hummingbird, typical of the ditches, was clad in green and buff, with a gorget of gold, green, and fiery red. This was the Rufous Hummingbird, and we were glad to see him in the life; for his fame as a traveller had long been known to us. Here he was near the northern limit of his winter home; but in the spring his race will hum away to the mountains of the North, some content to nest in the higher altitudes of the Western States, but many brave little fellows soma? WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY traversing Canada, on and on until they sight the snow peaks of Mt. St. Ehas in Alaska, far north of Sitka. The little fellows were ever squeaking and humming about our ears, disputing our invasion of their hunt- ing-grounds. These noisy little chwparosas, — flower-suckers, — as the Mexicans call them, not only flicked the insects from the flower-cups, but spent much time humming through the ditches, low over the ground. We could not imagine their errand, as it seemed hardly possible that they were attracted by the grasshoppers, some of which had bodies larger and heavier than their own. A struggle between a Rufous Hummingbird and a giant hopper would indeed be exciting! What a sight it would be to see the wee bird perched vulture-like upon the huge insect and dismembering it ! When, by patient watching and the dissection of one hummingbird’s stomach, we discovered the truth, we found it indeed to be more strange than fiction. Like almost all the birds of the ditches the humming- birds were really feeding chiefly upon grasshoppers. The sentinel Sparrow Hawks seemed to capture the largest insects, pulling them apart before swallowing. Those which were snatched up by the shrikes were of a smaller size, while the finches and lesser sparrows fed upon the partly grown hoppers. We were delighted to find that this corresponding diminution in size, correlat- ing the birds and their food, was even carried a step mesg TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Si: farther, so that the tiny hummingbirds were provided for. Wee harlequin grasshoppers, gaudily attired in black and white, yellow and red, were snapped up by the score and were just of a size for a mouthful for a chuparosa. These miniature grasshoppers were full grown and widely distributed throughout the country. After a moment’s silence in one of the cactus-shaded ditches, the little inhabitants with fur and scales made their presence known by sudden scamperings and dartings here and there. It was here we began to learn the lesson which week after week in Mexico en- forced, that a rustle among the leaves, slight or vigor- ous, nine times out of ten was made by a lizard, the commotion being out of all proportion to the size of the reptile. A forty-inch Iguana could steal almost noiselessly through a mass of brittle leaves, while the flight of a diminutive “ blue-tail,” not more than three inches from head to tail-tip, would sometimes sound like a whole band of scratching towhees or white-throats. It was hard not to watch instinctively for the supposed bird in the near-by bush, and the minutes we spent at first in this fruitless way, if collected, would equal many hours. Pouched rats (Geomys) were very abundant in the ditches, and scores of their burrows tunnelled the sides. We occasionally caught one in a box-trap and made it turn out the contents of its capacious cheeks. # WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY emu It was astonishing to see the amount of seeds which one of these creatures could pack on each side of its yellow incisors. No wonder the weeds produced seeds in such quantities if the Pouched Rat was only one of many creatures which enjoyed the sweet meat of the embryo plants. These rats were very pugnacious and constantly fought among themselves, chasing one another and clinching EE OU we : (Showing cheek pouches) — biting severely, if we judge from the sharpness of the squeaks which pro- ceeded from the rolling, tumbling combatants. Spermophiles — prairie-dog-hke, but with their backs decorated with white lines and dots — surprised us by peeping’ out of the entrances of their ditch homes and squeaking excitedly to each other the moment we disappeared around a bend. When a towhee was startled by us and saw no means of escape, it some- times darted into the nearest hole, from which, if the inhabitant was a Spermophile, the bird was promptly ejected by the owner, —choosing the less immediate danger of flying out past our very faces. One could not take a walk on the outskirts of the city without noticing the miniature whirlwinds, six or smut TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 2#ésmn eight often being in sight at once. On the alkali plains these reached their highest development, but here among the corn-stubble we could watch their formation and motion on a lesser scale. When the air about us was perfectly calm, a circling of dust might begin fif- teen or twenty feet away, which increased in strength and velocity until the vortex was plainly discernible. It usually moved steadily in one direction, but would sometimes make a sharp angle without warning. The dust and debris were now drawn up until a wavering brown finger extended fifty feet or more into the air. The summit tapered to a thread and the whole was frequently thrown into violent contortions without breaking the continuity. Such a column might pass unchanged out of sight, or it might break off at the base, and the mass of leaves and dust go sailing up through the air, until some counter-current interrupted the whirling, and the particles drifted to earth. Some- times a sparrow was surprised at his feast of weed- seeds and as he took to wing, his feathers were ruffled and his balance almost upset by the aerial maelstrom. There were certain birds which, like the House Finches, identified themselves with the city itself and, indeed, with almost all the larger towns and villages in Mexico. Not an English Sparrow seemed to have found its way to this fortunate country, and taking the place of these feathered pests was the dainty Audubon Warbler, which is almost identical with our well- wemyg’ WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY em known Myrtle Warbler of the Eastern United States, except that the throat of the former is yellow instead of white. But ours is a bird of the woods and parks, while the Audubon haunts the patios and adobe walls, showing the utmost familiarity with men and animals. Every city had its corps of feathered scavengers of which Audubon Warbler was the least, as the Turkey Vulture was the greater. For the little bird had for- saken the trees and insects, which elsewhere are its natural habitat and food, and found more to its liking among the torti//a and frijole crumbs, with perhaps a sprinkling of the spiders which so love the ill-kept patios of the poorer classes. Although we occasionally found it far from the haunts of men, yet we shall always associate the yellow, gray, and black of this warbler with the heart of the towns. Almost as familiar and tame were the little Inca Doves, scaled from head to foot and with long, tapering tails. These brown, bobbing forms of the dust flew up with a flurry of wings from beneath our feet on almost every pathway. They had as little fear of man as the chickens and pig's which disputed the right of way. Two species of grackles, or blackbirds, were always found in the parks and gardens of Mexican cities, at least in winter, — the small, yellow-eyed, iridescent Brewer Grackle, and the grandest of all his kind, the Great-tailed Grackle. The latter was a conspicuous feature of all the public plazas and parks, its black Pane Pa) ee ee wars TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Sexe form flapping slowly past, with sharp-keeled tail spread wide behind. Their voices were surprisingly musical — for grackles — and contrasted strongly with the harsh utterances of the other blackbirds and cowbirds. One of the sweetest of bird voices was heard about the adobe houses of the city every day —the drop- ping song of the Mexican Canyon Wren, but, as in the song of a caged bird, something seemed lacking, some quality which we knew should be in the strain, although we now heard it for the first time. These little dark- feathered bundles of tireless energy would creep like mice up the adobe walls, and from the top the white throats would pour forth the gushing floods of melody. Later, on our camping trips to the wild barrancas and gorges, we heard the Canyon Wren in his true home and his song at its best —a dominant strain in the melody of Mexican Nature. The beauty of the birds’ natural wild environment gave to them and to their song a charm which was absent in the birds of Guada- lajara. After our return to the city, memory always supplied the rocks, the ferns, the accompaniment of falling water, the — something lacking. Once, shortly before we said good-bye to the country of which we have grown so fond, when “ Senorita’? was overcome by the heat, a Canyon Wren flew into the open patio window, perched on a chai-back, and sang his little song with all his might — soothing pain with a flood of pleasant memories. umewge WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY gem: I have mentioned flocks of the Cuernavaca House Finch as haunting the suburban stubble-fields, and many of these birds were also found in the city itself. During one whole week a brilliant-plumaged male sang to us from the same tree each day as we passed on our early morning walk— a sweet, well-modulated, pleasing strain which revealed the reason for the numerous cap- tives in the bamboo cages hanging in so many doorways and patios. These were, however, more rightly yellow than purple finches, a caged life producing this change in colour after the first moult, which becomes more pronounced with each succeeding shedding of the feathers. Once I saw a wild male bird singing to a caged female, and again a male at liberty offered a beak- ful of straw to a brown lady bird in a bamboo prison. Our most pleasant memory of these birds is of a mated pair in full plumage on an adobe wall, the male bring- ing straw after straw to his mate and piling them at her feet, she paying no attention for a time, absently preening her feathers. But before we left them she made two trips, carrying part of the pile to a ledge under the tiles where the foundation of the nest was already in place. The male sang almost continuously, even uttering a few chirps and twitters while flying up with a straw in his beak. There are few people in the western portion of our country who do not know the well-named Yellow- headed Blackbird, but for us Easterners its habitat is smerg® TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 2#ézu: only the handbook and the museum. From the former we learn that it ranges south over the Mexican table- land, but no Yellow-head appeared to us during the winter, until one day in March, about six o’clock in the evening, we were taken wholly by surprise by seeing a male in full plumage perched upon the top spray of a mesquite-tree. Soon others joined him, many likewise golden of head and neck, and a few more sombre females. After this day the evening flight became a regular occurrence, flocks of hundreds coming from the open country to perch in the upper branches of the larger trees in plaza and patio. From where we satin the evening, four or five trees bare of leaves were visible and almost at the same moment, at the close of each day, the birds appeared from somewhere and alighted on the bare branches. Never had I seen birds perch so close together as did these Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They formed literally a solid mass. When the birds were frightened, the several trees gave up a myriad swift forms, which some- times swooped past us with a great roar of wings. Their liquid chirps and gurgles were not unmusical, and when the last rays of the setting sun were reflected from five hundred golden breasts, all facing the same way, it was a most resplendent sight. When all had arrived, as at some preconcerted signal, every bird took to wing and the flocks distributed themselves in the neighbouring trees for the night. As we stood near wmesiZ WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY isc: one of these roosts, a perfect babble of voices was audible above the rustling leaves and twigs. As dark- ness settled down the confusion grew less, the chirps more individual, and when the swift tropic twilight had passed, all was silent, save for a last subdued sleepy gurele — and the world of Yellow-heads was at rest. A GUADALAJARA EXPRESSMAN CHAPTER IV OASIS AND DESERT UADALAJARA is surrounded by a most barren country, but as every desert has its oasis, so this charming Mexican city turn again and again. It is reached by a short ride on a mule-car, this alone always promising excitement. If the flattened rails, in the uncertainty as to whether they will squeeze the wheels until they shriek, or whether they will allow the car to ramble gutterward at will, are bewildering, the switches are positively uncanny in the remarkable actions which they cause a car to perform. Rarely the car succeeds in proceeding upon the track intended. Sometimes it fails altogether, and there ensues a bewildering mixup of six mules, the two cars running together as closely as the kick- ing animals will permit. Again, the front truck will obediently follow the tugs of the mules, while the rear wheels endeavour to side-track themselves, as a result swinging the car crosswise in the street. But no one ever loses temper, or hurries, so difficulties unwind in due season. sng GG Boren OASIS AND DESERT Siess:: The most remarkable manceuvre is a flying switch performed with a single mule, a diminutive car, and a bridge built across a sand-gully on a road leading to the northwest of the city. As the car approaches the THE OUTSKIRTS OF GUADALAJARA bridge, a full gallop is attained by means of constant and vigorous applications of the whip, while the con- ductor hurls stones and Spanish epithets at the wildly flying mule. At the critical moment, just as the open ties are reached, the mule’s traces, in some inexplicable way, are cast off, he is swerved into a path at the left of the road, and, well trained by long experience, dashes down across the gully and up on the other side, where he trots slowly along the track. Simultaneously with his frantic scramble, the car’s momentum carries snonsnee OT Sporn wumée TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO 2éeun it across the bridge and up to the place where the mule is jogging along, when his traces are refastened and the regular gallop is resumed. As a spectacular performance it is worthy of being instituted as a circus feature ! The way to Agua Azul, or the “ Blue Water,” as the oasis is called, is along a path shaded by two lines of willows, and a few minutes after leaving the city one alights in the midst of a garden full of old-fashioned flowers in blossom.