INTRODUCTION. 9 
In the autumn of 1887, having been ordered abroad for the benefit of my health, 
I decided to visit Mexico, as in working out the Central American fauna, especially 
the Birds, we found ourselves more deficient in material from that country than from 
further south. Crossing the Atlantic to New York I took the train to Mexico City, 
then a six days’ journey, entering the Mexican Republic at El Paso (3700 ft.) on the 
Rio Grande. From this river the land gradually rises and spreads out into the great 
plateau of Central Northern Mexico, bounded on the east and west respectively by 
ridges of high mountains covered with pines, and falling abruptly on the east to the 
Atlantic and on the west to the Pacific. The rainfall being chiefly on the two coasts, 
the plateau is extremely dry and arid, and the vegetation consists largely of cacti, 
yuccas, agaves, and mesquite (Prosopis), with willows and poplars along the margins. 
of the few water-courses or lagoons. The early part of the journey was passed during 
the night, but next morning it was evident that a considerably higher elevation had 
been attained, and on reaching Zacatecas (8000 ft.), a large mining district, the aspect 
of the country was very desolate and unpromising for natural history purposes, and 
continued much the same for some distance, but improved a little nearer to the Capital. 
After spending a few days in Mexico City in making necessary preparations, I was 
joined by W. B. Richardson, an American bird-collector, and taking him with me 
started for the Atlantic coast. The first part of the journey, still on the high plateau, 
was through fields of ‘agave’ grown for the production of the fermented drink 
called ‘ pulque,’ so much beloved by the Indians. In about six hours we reached 
Esperanza, in the State of Puebla, at the Eastern edge of the plateau ; here the train 
enters the wonderful gorge by which it descends to Orizaba, Cordova, Atoyac, and 
Vera Cruz. The scenery at once changes, the vegetation becoming luxuriant on 
entering the region of the rainfall. 
Before reaching Orizaba we crossed and recrossed the gorge by a series of viaducts 
amongst palms, tree ferns, and tropical plants, loaded with orchids and tillandsias. At 
Orizaba we spent a few days coilecting, and I was there joined by Mr. and Mrs. H. H. 
Smith, who went with me as far as Atoyac, where they remained for some time before 
crossing to the Western side of Mexico. The Smiths had previously been in Brazil, 
where they made large collections of insects, which are now in the Pittsburg Museum. 
Mrs. Smith was also skilled in skinning birds which were shot and brought to us by 
the Indians, and through her we made many additions to our store of ornithological 
treasures. Leaving the Smiths at Atoyac, a village at the foot of the steep descent from 
the plateau—still, however, about 1500 feet above the sea and about fifty miles from 
the coast,—Richardson and I continued our journey to Vera Cruz, the land gradually | 
sloping down to the Atlantic and forming a savanna or plain of sandy ground, sparsely 
covered with grass and scrub. After spending a few days in collecting, chiefly to 
the north of the town, we took the mule tram to Jalapa, which being on higher ground 
reaps the benefit of the rainfall and the vegetation is far more luxuriant. At this 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Introd. Vol., January 1915. C 
