16 Mr. G. C. Taylor on Birds collected 



animals are plentiful thereabouts. Next morning they returned, 

 bringing one [Dasypus 7iovem-cinctus*?) alive in a net. We ordered 

 it to be shelled, and dressed for cooking, and took it along with us. 

 It was covered with a layer of fat fully an inch thick. At a tole- 

 rably early hour next day we started for the Lake of Yojoa, some 

 three leagues distant, but in difficulty of transit fully equal to 

 double the distance. For some way our route lay through open 

 savannahs and across wooded hollows. It was in many places 

 overgrown with bush, and consequently we were well covered 

 with Agarrapatas before we had been long out. We then crossed 

 a broad and rapid stream and entered a dense forest, through 

 which the path, owing to disuse, had become almost obliterated. 

 It was obstructed by fallen trees of all sizes, and the young 

 vegetation had grown over them. If we had not sent forward 

 a party to clear the way, we should never have got through. 

 The men had cut a way through the forest. Owing to the 

 iiumber of fallen trees, the uiud-holes, being sheltered from the 

 sun, had not dried up. To avoid these, they had been frequently 

 compelled to deviate from the old path and open a fresh one. 

 Everywhere the track was full of the stumps of the young trees 

 which had been cut away. However, the mules got well through 

 it, and the baggage followed, greatly to my surprise. The forest 

 was full of large and lofty trees, many of them IMahoganies 

 [Sioietenia] . Most of the large trees had those buttresses at the 

 base, which are so remarkable in tropical forest scenery. The 

 underbrush was not very thick, but still too much so to make 

 walking in the forest pleasant work. 



After a ride of some hours we emerged into a small clearing 

 with a few huts upon it, about half a mile distant from a river 

 flowing from the lake, where we were to embark in canoes. It 

 was an unhealthy and unpleasant locality, abounding in malaria 

 and mosquitoes, so we were anxious to remain as short a time 

 as possible. About half an hour before sunset we moved down 

 on the mules to the bank of the river. The track was through 

 one deep and continuous mud-hole. The whole party assembled 



* Lichtensteiu says that the Armadillo of Mexico is perfectly identical 

 with the South American Dasypus noi^em-cinctus (Abh. Akad. Berlin, 1827, 

 p. 101).— Ed. 



