554 F - SUMICHRAST ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL 



dant. The Cerro Colorado, near Tehuacan, to the south of the State of Puebla, is the 

 rendezvous of a large number of these birds. At the time of the flowering of the Maguey 

 (Agave), with which the sides and summit of that mountain are covered, the Ravens 

 gather there in greater abundance than at any other time. The blossom of the agave is 

 their favorite food, as it is also of other birds, owing to the honeyed sweetness of their 

 corolla}. 



122. Cyanura coronata. Vulg. Azulejo. Alpine region. A resident of the alpine region, 

 this Jay is found as high up as the extreme limits of vegetation on the peak of Orizaba, 

 but is confined to its forests of pines and of oaks. It does not descend lower than 1300 or 

 1400 metres, and is never seen on the plains. The alpine region also is the exclusive 

 abode of three other species of Blue Jays. 



123. Cyanocitta nana. Vulg. Azulejo. Alpine region. 



124. Cyanocitta califomica. Vulg. Azulejo. Alpine region. 



125. Cyanocitta uUramarina. Vulg. Azulejo. Alpine region. 



The limit of their extension is about that of the alpine region itself, that is to say, from 

 1500 to 3500 metres. And a fourth species : 



126. Cyanocitta sordida. Vulg. Azulejo. Plateau and alpine region. This is less exclu- 

 sively confined to the alpine region, and is also to be found on the plateau. 



127. Cyanocitta ornata,. Vulg. Azul de toca. Temperate region. This species, though 

 found in the localities which by their height belong to the alpine region, is rather, more 

 properly speaking, a bird of the temperate region, and among its mountains. It seems to 

 prefer to the forests of pines those more rich in vegetable forms that cover the more ele- 

 vated portions of the temperate region. 



128. XeintJioura luxuosa. Vulg. Verde de toca. Sonaja. Hot and temperate region. One 

 of the birds most generally diffused throughout the department. It inhabits the hot and 

 the temperate regions, and is found even at the foot of the alpine, to the altitude of nearly 

 2000 metres. 



129. Psilorhinus morio. Vulg. Pepe. Hot and temperate regions. This bird, so well 

 known and so generally detested on account of its troublesome and noisy habits, inhabits 

 the greater portions of Vera Cruz. It is found everywhere with the exception of the alpine 

 region. It does not appear to go beyond a vertical elevation of 1500 metres. I am 

 assured that this bird never makes a nest of its own, but invariably lays in those belonging 



to other birds. 



Dendrocolaptidze and Anabatid^;. 



130. Xiphocolaptcs cmigrans. Alpine region. I was very much astonished when, hunting 

 for the first time in the pine forests around Orizaba, I met with the first specimen of this 

 beautiful species. The presence of a form so tropical in appearance at the height of nearly 

 2500 metres, led me at first to suppose that I had fallen upon a bird driven by some atmos- 

 pheric perturbation and wandering from its proper abodes, which I supposed from analogy 

 with those of other Dendrocolaptidce, should be the hot region. Several excursions into the 

 same localities put me in possession of so considerable a number of specimens as to demon- 

 strate that my suppositions were unfounded, and to convince me that this bird was a legit- 

 imate tenant of the alpine region, and that in all probability it breeds there. It is a bird 

 naturally mistrustful, and is approached with difficulty. With a peculiar persistence on its 

 part quite unusual, it is very rarely that the first discharge of the gun brings it from the 



