:::::::::*; TWO BIRD- LOVERS IN MEXICO B--""- 



above our heads the volcanic rocks were scoured 

 smooth. Here the sunHg-ht never entered, and black 

 lianas hung' down from far overhead, twisting and 

 knotting around each other, where they touched, like 

 the Dantesque serpents of some frightful " round " of 

 Purgatorio. 



Wherever a ledge or a more gentle slope gave foot- 

 hold, luxuriant vegetation crowded it ; gigantic Agaves, 

 or Century-plants, variegated with white, starred the 

 walls ; purple-leafed orchids, and now and then a dang- 

 ling tangle of Night-blooming Cereus, the spiny stems 

 looking; like nothinof so much as colonies of monstrous 

 hydras, tentacled and budding. Where the drip and 

 splash of ice-cold springs were heard, mosses and ferns 

 abounded, delicate maidenhair, with fronds two and 

 three feet in length, forming arrowheads of filmiest 

 green against the black moist cliffs. Saxifrage (ety- 

 mologically, if not botanically) lit up the glades wath 

 myriads of white stars, filling the whole air with 

 sweetest fragrance. 



In such a setting we found that most exquisite of 

 birds — the Painted Redstart — in abundance. Not 

 a chirp or warble did they utter, but dashed silently to 

 and fro, flaming out in the dark ravines — visions of 

 black, scarlet, and white. 



Not a sound broke the silence, save the gentle tinkle 

 of water falling upon water. Without warning, from 

 the green depths at one side, there came several notes, 



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