CHARACTERS. 



609 



tides, at least twenty species of 

 ducks, several kinds of herons and 

 egrets, with vast flocks of sv/ans, 

 gulls, water-rails, divers, king- 

 fishers, palmipedes, zimantopedes, 

 pelicans, and others. 



There are 37 species of Mexi- 

 can birds that are superlatively 

 beautiful for their plumage, of 

 which the hacuiloltototl, orpainted 

 bird, justly deserves its name, for 

 its beautiful feathers are varie- 

 gated with red, blue, purple, 

 green and black. Its eyes are 

 black, with a yellow iris, and its 

 feet are ash-coloured. The huit- 

 zitzilin is that wonderful little 

 bird, so often celebrated by the 

 historians of America forits small- 

 ness, its activity, the singular 

 beauty of its plumage, the spare- 

 ness of its food, and the length of 

 its sleep in the winter ; it lives by 

 sucking a plant similar to a myrtle. 

 There are nine species of this bird, 

 differing in size and in colour ; 

 the Spaniards call it chupamirto, 

 or myrtle-sucker. 



There are in Mexico twenty-six 

 species of singing birds, amongst 

 which are included nightingales, 

 goldfinches, &c. but all the sing- 

 ing birds that are as yet known, 

 are surpassed by the very famous 

 centzentli (four hundred), so 

 named by the Mexicans to ex- 

 press the wonderful variety of its 

 notes. The centzentli,or polyglot, 

 is to be found in all parts of 

 Mexico in great numbers, where 

 they are held in such estimation, 

 that twenty dollars have been paid 

 for a superior one. It is impos- 

 sible to give any idea of the sweet- 

 ness and mellowness of its song, 

 of the harmony and variety of its 

 tones, or of the facility with which 

 it learns to imitate whatever it 



Vol. LII. 



hears. It counterfeits naturally 

 not only the notes of other birds, 

 but even the different noises of 

 quadrupeds. It is of the size of a 

 common thrush ; its body is white 

 upon the under side, and grey 

 above, with some white feathers, 

 especially about the head and tail. 

 It eats any thing, but delights 

 chiefly in flies, which it will pick 

 from one's finger with signs of 

 pleasure. Attempts have been 

 often made to bring it to Europe, 

 but without success ; it always 

 died on the passage by change of 

 climate, or the hardships of a 

 voyage. The birds, called cardi- 

 nals, are not less delightful to the 

 ear from the sweetness of their 

 song, than to the sight by the 

 beauty of their scarlet plumage 

 and crest. The Mexican calan- 

 dra sings very sweetly also, and 

 its song resembles that of the 

 nightingale. The tigrillo, or little 

 tiger (tigret), is so named from 

 its feathers being spotted like the 

 skin of a tiger, and its music is 

 sweet. The Mexican sparrows, 

 called gorriones, have a song most 

 delightful and various. There are 

 great numbers of these singing 

 birds in the capital, and in the 

 other cities andvillages of Mexico. 



In speaking-birdS; the parrots 

 hold, perhaps, the first place ; 

 there are four principal species of 

 them in Mexico, namely, the hu- 

 acaraaya, the toznentl, the cochoti, 

 and the quiltototl. 



The madrugadores, or twilight- 

 birds, called by the Mexicans 

 tzacua, are the last among the 

 day birds to go to roost at night, 

 and the first to leave it in the 

 morning, and to announce the re- 

 turn of the sun. They never 

 cease to sing and frolic till an hour 



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