:::::::::m TWO BIRD -LOVERS IN MEXICO ?*::::.::- 



Northern harvest fields was also abundant, spending 

 the winter with these smaller cousins. 



The stream ran too rajjidly for kingfishers at this 

 place, but Black Phcebes were abundant. Rock Phcfibe 

 would be an excellent name for these birds, which 

 perched all day on the boulders in mid-stream, making 

 short dashes at the gnats which hovered over the foam- 

 ing Avater. The note of the Black Phoebe is sharper, 

 not drawn out like the voice of our phcebe, but pro- 

 nounced and distinct, just as his colours are clear-cut 

 and sharp-edged, — black above, white below, — giving 

 him a decided character, very different from the com- 

 mingling of dull hues of our bridge bird. 



The sun reached our little cam]) beside the stream 

 much earlier than it did in the Barranca Atenquiqui, 

 and this early warmth, together with the many flowers 

 and juicy wild fruits on the sloping walls around us, 

 attracted many insects, and consequently flycatchers 

 abounded. We found no less than ten species of these 

 birds near camp, and others were seen, but too imper- 

 fectly for identification. So similarly were four or five 

 of these species coloured that it was most confusing 

 to tell which was which, unless several were in sight 

 for comparison. For every size of insect there seemed 

 to be a flycatcher with corresponding exjDanse of beak, 

 although at this season fully two thirds of the food of 

 these birds consisted of berries, two kinds predominat- 

 ing, one currant-like and the other larger, with pits 



" <i- 186 ^ - 



