VOl *i9li VI11 ] Phillips, Birds of Tamaulipas, Mexico. 71 



are perpendicular, with more bare cliffs. The canon is also much 

 deeper, but the vegetation is the same as at Galindo. The plains 

 in front of Sarata Leonor are all much alike, as are the mountains 

 for the most part. 



" The stony plains regions are covered with a plant called anac- 

 quito; and the ground is almost bare of grass. The country is 

 slightly rolling and uniform, except for the river bottoms. These 

 plains are threaded by a number of little streams, at intervals of 

 some ten or fifteen miles. Along these water courses is a growth of 

 tall elm and other big trees; also cypress, and an underbrush of 

 green saplings, vines, and weeds. The streams are Cruz, Santa 

 Engracia, Caballero, Martinez, and Victoria; and a description of 

 one suits the others. The map shows their location; and their 

 vegetation and general character are the same. They are strong, 

 and very shallow; some places only two inches deep, and from 

 sixty to two hundred feet wide." 



"Altamira 1 in the lowlands has a sandy soil, tropical vegetation, 

 except for oak timber, and numerous tule swamps. There are very 

 few wagon roads, all traffic being done on horseback over trails. 

 The forest in places is a regular jungle, with vines and rank foliage 

 and several species of stunted, thorny bushes, or trees, in the higher 

 places; and a weed-like pineapple plant (called "huipia") covers 

 the ground and makes the woods practically impassable, on account 

 of the cat-claw thorns along its leaves. Hunting can be done only 

 along cut trails through the forest; a bird falling twenty feet from 

 the trail is seldom secured, as a few steps through this hiupia will 

 generally throw a man down, claw him, and nearly prevent him from 

 getting on his feet. Mosquitoes, fevers, 'nighuas' ( a flea that 

 buries itself in the flesh), and everything else that is disagreeable, 

 attend camping in this section." 



As to the climate of Tamaulipas, Mr. E. W. Nelson of the 

 United States Biological Survey has been kind enough to furnish 

 me with notes of a general character. He says that the climate, 

 like that of the rest of eastern Mexico, is divided into a wet and a 

 dry season. The wet season begins in June and July and lasts 



1 Altamira, in the extreme southeastern part of the State, was visited in the 

 last eighteen days of December, but owing to the severe malaria which Mr. 

 Armstrong contracted in the humid swamps, the region was not visited again. 



