:::::::::C TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO B'-"""" 



feathers, and the telltale bear-like footprmts of the 

 animal. The Raccoon returned the following night, 

 but the bird, which he found ready slain, was tied to 

 the pedal of a steel trap, and by the law of fate w^e 

 enjoyed a delicious stew, made from the fattest of 

 coons. The Derby was avenged. 



Filtering through the purifying pumice, a sweet, 

 cold spring gushed out at the base of the cave cliff 

 opposite, and, in deepening a water-hole, I made an 

 interesting discovery under a stone — a good-sized 

 crab, about the size of the Spirit Crabs which are so 

 abundant along the southern Atlantic coast. I was as 

 surprised as if an anemone had drawn in its tentacles 

 before me in this fresh water. Land Crabs are old 

 friends of ours, but a typical aquatic crab, living in 

 this little stream, nearly four thousand feet above the 

 sea, seemed most astonishnig. My momentary surprise 

 was the crab's gain, and without warning it sidled 

 away into deep water, avoiding every effort at capture. 

 But one other was ever seen, and that too escaped me.^ 



Toward the end of our stay of a little over a week, 

 insects became more abundant, especially butterflies ; 

 yellow ones of four sizes, from minute little dabs of 

 sulphur, fluttering over the blossoms, to great golden 



^ I have later learned tliat the genus Pseudothelphusa, to which this 

 crab belonged, contains over forty species, all living in fresh water, wliieh 

 range over the West Indies, and from the locality in which we were 

 camping, south to Peru and Brazil. 



<^- 164 ^ 



