:::::::::=»x TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO M 



from caged specimens. All the time the macaws floated 

 past high in air toward the west — two and two — as 

 alike as a sinole bird and its shadow. 



Evening after evening we were mystified by the call 

 of some bird which came to onr ears at the same hour. 

 For a long time the l)ird evaded our search. Lying in 

 wait in the hope of getting a photograph of a gigantic 

 raven which occasionally wheeled and croaked al)out 

 our camp, I saw a long-tailed greenish biid dash past 

 me and perch near by. It sat very upright and its 

 tail hung straight down, and it was like nothing that 

 I had ever seen before. And no wonder, for it was 

 a Coppery-tailed Trogon, the type of a family of birds 

 new to me. The green of tlie bird's l^ack and tail was 

 not conspicuous, but, when it darted up into the air and 

 returned to its perch facing me, the full glory of tlie 

 delicate rose-pink on its lower breast was apparent. 

 This hue is evanescent, not only in shade but in t-oin- 

 position, and in the skin of a dead bird it will fade, and 

 if exposed to the light, will, in a very short time, com- 

 pletely disappear. The call of the trogon, uttered 

 especially toward evening when it came to drink, was 

 a soft series of melodious notes, reminding one s(mie- 

 what of the content-call of a hen with chickens. Re<i- 

 ularly at dusk two of these birds went to roost in a 

 dense tangle of wild clematis, whose soft, fluffy seed- 

 plumes were at the height of their ripened beauty. 



Little doves were very abundant about camp, both 



" «4 184 ^ - 



