:::n:::s#x TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO sfe"-"" 



farther, so that the tiny hummingbirds were provided 

 for. Wee harlequin grasshoppers, gaudily attired in 

 black and white, yellow and red, were snapped up by 

 the score and were just of a size for a mouthful for a 

 chuparosa. These miniature grasshoppers Avere full 

 grown and widely distributed throughout the country. 



After a moment's silence in one of the cactus-shaded 

 ditches, the little inhabitants with fur and scales made 

 their presence known by sudden scamperings and 

 dartinos here and there. It was here we beo;an to 

 learn the lesson which week after week in Mexico en- 

 forced, that a rustle among the leaves, slight or vigor- 

 ous, nine times out of ten was made by a lizard, the 

 commotion being out of all j^i'oportion to the size of 

 the reptile. 



A forty-inch Iguana could steal almost noiselessly 

 through a mass of brittle leaves, while the flight of 

 a diminutive "blue-tail," not more than three inches 

 from head to tail-tip, would sometimes sound like a 

 whole band of scratching towhees or white-throats. 

 It was hard not to watch instinctively for the supposed 

 bird in the near-by bush, and the minutes we spent at 

 first in this fruitless way, if collected, would equal many 

 hours. 



Pouched rats (Geomys) were very abundant in 

 the ditches, and scores of their burrows tunnelled the 

 sides. We occasionally caught one in a box-trap and 

 made it turn out the contents of its capacious cheeks. 



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