142 



THE OOLOGIST 



The road is bad and rocky. On both 

 sides you have the tropical Djaigel, 

 in which tliorny vegetation prevails. 

 Only here and there a cleared spot, 

 but cleared not according to our way of 

 doing things. If a Mexican clears 

 the land, he chops off the larger trees 

 and shrubs without taking the roots 

 out at all; then he plows with a lit- 

 tle hand plow, the ground, maybe two 

 or three inches deep and sows his 

 corn. In consequence of this you find 

 many places where the corn never had 

 a chance to outgrow the second shot 

 from the remaining Djaugel; the enor- 

 mous heat and moisture contributing 

 greatly to this excessive growth. We 

 met a few Indians on the way and 

 their sinister looks showed clearly 

 that the anti-American feeling is still 

 predominant. 



The sun stood well in the zenith, 

 when I saw what appeared to be an 

 ideal camping place. We crossed the 

 river on this place and erected camp 

 on the opposite shore. Great trouble 

 I experienced only to find poles for the 

 tent; every stick or branch had thorns 

 from one-half to two inches and was 

 bent or unsuitable from various rea- 

 sons. Finally I had to be satisfied 

 with wrapping two strong branches 

 together to secure the proper length 

 and height. I was careful to chop the 

 growth off in the immediate vicinity 

 of the tent on account of the heavy 

 dew during the night, but after one 

 hour or so everything was ready to 

 start in work. 



On my way to this place I had no- 

 ticed aside from those named be- 

 fore, quite a variety of birds. There 

 were five different species of Colam- 

 bine birds which I secured all during 

 my three weeks stay. The white- 

 winged, the mourning, and ground 

 doves most comomn. Only one Colum- 

 ba flavirostris was secured; several 

 seen however. 



The Vermillion Flycatcher was very 

 abundant; one could hardly look 

 around without noticing three or four 

 of those magnificent birds. I believe 

 it is ere cf the prettiest sights to see 

 an aiUilt male sitting on a dry perch 

 in the morning or evening specially, 

 when the subdued tints of the sur- 

 roundings form a splendid setting for 

 this little live gem. Derby Fly- 

 catchers were fairly abundant, also 

 Couch's Kingbird. The black and 

 white flycatcher seemed to be here 

 in this cactus world just as well at 

 home as up north on his barn and 

 coral posts. 



The noisy long-tailed, long-crested 

 Jays were not so easy to secure I 

 watched a couple of them one morn- 

 ing on a dry tree, moving their tails 

 like squirrels. It is astonishing how 

 well they know how to take care of 

 their enormous tails. Of all I shot 

 the tails were absolutely perfect; a 

 wonder, when you consider the rank 

 thorny vegetation through which they 

 fly and move. 



Chordciles ten, acatipeanis was 

 very conspicuous at sundown, some- 

 times fifty or sixty were right in front 

 cf the tent. Spending the day in 

 the brush under roots or rocky 

 shelters, they came down in the 

 evening to the river to drink, flying 

 half like a hawk, half like a bat, they 

 are net easy to secure, bending 

 eft in their flight right at the critical 

 moment; the dusk making your 

 efforts still more difficult. 



Trogons (2 species) were seen 

 early in the morning or afternoons 

 quite often, sitting patiently in the 

 dense foliage waiting for insects. 



Interesting are the parrots of which 

 one meets five different species. 

 They come every morning from the 

 higher mountains down to the foot- 

 hills, to feed on the buds of some 

 trees in the Djuager, thereby sometimes 



