:::::::.»x TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN :\IEXICO B-"""" 



feathers, and the telltale hear-like footprmts of the 

 animal. The Raccoon returned the f olio win o- nioht, 

 but the bird, which he found ready slain, was tied to 

 the pedal of a steel trap, and by the law of fate we 

 enjo}ed a delicious stew, made from the fattest of 

 coons. The Derby was avenoed. 



Filtering- through the purifying- pumice, a sweet, 

 cold spring gushed out at the base of the cave cliff 

 opposite, and, in deepening a water-hole, 1 made an 

 interesting discovery under a stone — a good-sized 

 crab, about the size of the Spirit Crabs which are so 

 abundant along the southern Atlantic coast. I was as 

 surprised as if an anemone hail drawn in its tentacles 

 before me in this fresh water. Land Crabs are old 

 friends of ours, but a typical aquatic crab, living in 

 this little stream, nearly four thousand feet above the 

 sea, seemed nu)st astonishnig. My momentary surprise 

 was the crab's ii'ain, and without warnino- it sidled 

 away into deep water, avoiding every effort at capture. 

 But one other was ever seen, and that too escaped me.' 



Toward the end of our stay of a little over a week, 

 insects became more abundant, especially butterfiies ; 

 vellow ones of four sizes, from minute little dabs of 

 sulphur, fluttering over the blossoms, to great golden 



* I have later learned that the genus Pseurlothelphusa, to which this 

 crab belonged, contains over forty species, all living in fresh water, which 

 range over the ^Vest Indies, and from the locality in which we were 

 camping, south to Peru and Brazil. 



«^- l(i4 ^ 



