370 Bailey, Notes on Birds of Western Mexico. [oct 



me I think I ever saw, machetes and knives being everywhere in 

 evidence, so much so that I came near giving up, right then and 

 there, all thoughts of business and ornithology. However, as 

 I was not slaughtered on the spot, I took courage, and after re- 

 peated inquiries as to Don Walterio, managed to make myself 

 understood, and with three mosos stringing behind with my 

 luggage, set forth for the ranch house, three quarters of a mile 

 distant, through the banana plantation of which Mr. Bryant was 

 superintendent. The dogs soon announced my approach, and as 

 I reached the shelter of the porch he came out to greet me. Which 

 of the two was the more glad to see the other will never be answered. 

 The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent in telling the 

 latest news from civilized parts, and in getting in return points 

 regarding the birds, the lay of the land, and the business I had come 

 down to transact. 



San Bias is a small coast port in the Territory of Tepic, with 

 about three thousand inhabitants, in latitude 20°-21° and longitude 

 105°-106°. The town, which consists of a few stores, government 

 buildings and a number of brick and wooden houses of the better 

 class, besides the regular palapi houses of the natives, is situated 

 close to the beach at the mouth of the estero which forms all the 

 harbor the place affords, and is available for only the smaller craft. 

 The surrounding country is level for a few miles and has been cul- 

 tivated to some extent, but most of the crops come from the San- 

 tiago district, some twenty miles away on the banks of the river 

 of that name. About five miles northeast of the town the moun- 

 tains begin, running parallel to the coast line and swinging to the 

 south on the other side of the bay, directly back of the banana 

 ranch. Here are two of the highest peaks in the whole range; they 

 are the compass of the San Bias sailor, as will be shown later on in 

 my story. The estero forming the harbor for San Bias is one of 

 the three mouths of the Santiago River, and runs northward parallel 

 to the coast line for about fifteen miles until it meets the main 

 channel of the river. This river and its banks, which at low tide 

 are hard black sand, offer many opportunities to the ornithologist 

 in the way of water birds, while the natives gather from the bushes, 

 partly covered by water at high tide, a small oyster, relished by 

 native and tourist alike, and which forms one of the staple articles 

 of food for that section and is also shipped inland. 



