::::::::ae TWO BIRD- LOVERS IN MEXICO Is:::::::: 



above our heads the volcanic rocks were scoured 

 smooth. Here the sunHght never entered, and bkck 

 lianas hung down from far overhead, twisting and 

 knotting around each other, where they touched, like 

 the Dantesque serpents of some frightful " round " of 

 Pnrgatorio. 



Wherever a ledge or a nu>re gentle slope gave foot- 

 hold, luxuriant vegetation crowded it ; gigantic ^[(javes, 

 or Century-plants, variegated with white, starred the 

 walls ; purple-leafed orchids, and now and then a dang- 

 ling tangle of Night-blooming Cereus, the spiny stems 

 lookinii" like notlnno' so much as colonies of monstrous 

 hydras, tentacled and budding. Where tlie drip and 

 splash of ice-cold springs were beard, mosses and ferns 

 abounded, delicate maidenhair, with fronds two and 

 three feet in lengtb, forming arrowheads of filmiest 

 green against the black moist clilfs. Saxifrage (etv- 

 mologically, if not botanically) lit u}) the glades with 

 myriads of white stars, filling the whole air with 

 sweetest fragrance. 



In such a setting we found that most exquisite of 

 birds — the Painted Redstait — in abundance. Not 

 a chirp or warble did tliey utter, but dashed silently to 

 and fro, Haming out in the dark ravines — visions of 

 black, scarlet, and white. 



Not a sound broke the silence, save the gentle tinkle 

 of water falling upon water. Without warning, from 

 the green depths at one side, there came several notes, 



- «^ '■344 "^ 



