68 Phillips, Birds of Tamaulipas, Mexico. [jan 



and then ascends the second ridge of hills, and so on over about four 

 great hills until Realito is reached, at an elevation of about 8000 

 feet. This same trail forks out in different directions to various 

 mines and settlements throughout the mountains. At Santa 

 Leonor the scrub brush disappears, and around and in the canon 

 there are heavy ebony forests mixed with elm (probably not a 

 true elm) and buttonwood trees which attain a great height, with 

 a heavy underbrush and many vines, so thick that one can scarcely 

 see six feet through it. Here is the home of Brasher's Warbler, 

 Berlandier's Wren, Blue-crested Mot-mot, and Coppery-tailed 

 Trogon. The only chance to catch a glimpse of these birds is 

 when they cross a trail or wood road, as the thicket is so dense 

 and tangled that one can hardly push a way through it. 



" This is the condition of the canon until it reaches considerable 

 elevations, or traverses several miles. Above Santa Leonor, on 

 the trail that ascends the first hill, in going up, one passes through 

 a thicket of green bushes with heavy foliage, and from this to more 

 open places, with scrubby, spreading bushes and big rocks, and 

 further up the oak begins with tall grass and boulders everywhere. 

 This continues on the ascent for some way, when the great pines l 

 begin; and then at an elevation of say 3000 feet, up to 10,000 feet, 

 the mountains are about the same: immense pines over the slopes, 

 intermixed with oaks, and tall grass and boulders everywhere. 



"Most of the birds labelled Santa Leonor were taken in the 

 canon and in front of the canon where the plains begin, very few 

 being taken on the hill slopes back of or above the town. 



"Carracitos (6000 feet) is the name given a valley between two 

 ridges, where a dam was constructed making a small lake. This 

 place being flat, or nearly so, is covered with a big pine grove with 

 oaks and boulders on the slopes on either side of it. Here are Wild 

 Turkey, Deer and Massina Partridge; and on the slopes, Couch's 

 Jay, Ant-eating Woodpeckers, Boucard's Sparrow, Jouy's Warbler, 

 and Hepatic Tanager. This place is used by freighters to pasture 

 and rest up their pack mules, and has been a camping place for 

 many years. The first Smith's Nightingale Thrush was taken on 



1 Probably Pinus cerunoides and P. nelsoni on the lower slopes, and P. ponderosa 

 and a form of P. monlezumce on the higher slopes, according to a letter from Mr. 

 G. R. Shaw. 



