MEXICAN CKOSSBILL,. 



CHAPTER YII. 



We found both the fauna and flora of San Andres to 

 differgreatly from that of Orizaba, four thousand feet below. 

 Here were pine and spruce scattered about, and other trees 

 of the temperate climate. The birds were quite perceptably 

 different; here jays, resembling our Florida Blue Jay, 



Chewinks, Purple Finches, sparrows, . 

 Golden-winged Woodpeckers, Cross- 

 bills, and snow-birds, were seen. We 

 seemed to have stepped from the 

 tropics into the temperate region. 

 The Broad-tailed Humming-bird was 

 tolerably common. . Every day, in the 

 cooler hours of the morning or even- 

 ing, they were seen whirling about the bushes. Their 

 habits are unlike those of all other birds. They dart to 

 and fro so swiftly that the eye can scarcely follow them, and 

 when they stop before a flovver it is only for a few moments. 

 They poise themselves in an unsteady manner, their wings 

 moving rapidly; probe the flower, and then shoot off for 

 another part of the shrub. Sometimes two males close 

 with each other and fight, mounting upward in the struggle, 

 and then hastily separating and darting back to their work. 

 Their brilliant colors cannot be seen while they are flutter- 

 ing about, and the different species are difficult to distin- 

 guish. This species was the only one seen, although I 

 believe others are to be found in the region. 



We were somewhat astonished at the utter absence of 

 insect life, which was quite a contrast from Orizaba, where 

 we had seen them in great numbers. The country between 

 San Andres and the Peak of Orizaba was cut up into deep 



