DISTRIBUTION OF THE BIRDS OF VERA CRUZ. 563 



a desire for larvaa of almost microscopic proportions to be the motive that prompts these 

 birds to labor whole hours at a time in cutting into the hard envelope of the oaks ? How- 

 ever inconceivable this explanation may appear, it is yet the one that seems to have been 

 most generally adopted. In regard to this fact, as cited by M. de Saussure, it is not at all 

 surprising that he should have attributed this perforation of the Maguay to the Colaptes 

 mexicanus, since this bird is found at Pizarro in company with the Melanerpes formicivorus. 



Published March, 1869. 



