of the Swalloio -tailed Kite. 241 



selves as a roosting-place for the night. In spite of their inces- 

 sant squabbling and the hardness of my pillow (on this occasion 

 my saddle), morning came quickly, and at an early hour I took 

 leave of my hostess, who, with the greatest appearance of sin- 

 cerity, placed herself, family, rancho, and all her earthly goods at 

 my disposal for any future occasion. 



This style of displaying such tender and extreme regard for the 

 convenience of their fellow-creatures is common throughout the 

 country, and is a mere ceremony, nothing being farther from 

 their wishes than that the traveller should avail himself of their 

 empty offers. We parted with mutual protestations of eternal 

 friendship. The sun was rising, and numbers of Cha-chas 

 {Oi'talida vetula) were seen on all sides fluttering through the 

 bush. This seems to be a favourite place for the Cha-cha, it 

 being met with in large numbers, which almost deafen one with 

 their noisy concert. One bird leads off with a few chirps, the 

 rest then join in gradually and with increasing vigour, flitting 

 about in the meanwhile from bush to bush. The noise having 

 reached its climax is deafening in the extreme, but dies down 

 gradually, until only a few chirps are heard, and soon all is 

 silent as before. 



The character of the country here, as at Coban, is entirely 

 different from every other part of the State of Guatemala which I 

 have visited. Undulating hills, clothed to their summits with a 

 profuse vegetation which has followed the demolition of the pri- 

 mseval forest^ take the place of the towering and barren moun- 

 tain-ranges which are characteristic of the district of Salama and 

 Eabinal. I should mention that a companion made the journey 

 from Coban with me — a young man of the country, bred to 

 mountain life, conversant with the language of the Indians, and 

 enthusiastic in the extreme in everything connected with the 

 pursuits of a naturalist. Proceeding on our journey, and pass- 

 ing over the brow of a hill w'hich rose considerably above those 

 surrounding us, we suddenly saw, on the slope beneath us, a large 

 number of Swallow-tailed Kites {Elanoides furcatus), gliding 

 backwards and forwards through the air, directly over the road 

 which we were pursuing. They were near the ground, many of 

 them within ten or twelve yards of it, and numbered from 150 to 



