242 MEXICO. 



the mot-mots and trogons, the harpy and carracara eagles, the 

 hang-nest, the true and red tanagers, parrots, parrakeets, ma- 

 caws, creepers, crest-finches, and the fork-tailed and even- 

 tailed humming-birds. Of the genera peculiar to North 

 America, but which are unknown in the South, found in 

 Mexico, are the fantailed wagtails, titmice, and worm-eating 

 warblers blue robins, groundfinch and sandfinch, crescent- 

 starlings and ground-woodpecker. The sandfinch is, however, 

 found in the Brazils. Vast numbers of aquatic birds frequent 

 the lakes and marshes of the table-lands of the interior, as 

 well as the rivers and shores of the coast, nearly the whole of 

 which are well known in the United States, the greater num- 

 ber also inhabiting the Arctic regions. 



Among the reptiles, there is one curious creature, peculiar 

 to the country, allied to the siren of Carolina. It is the 

 axolotl, j which partakes of the form of a fish, and abounds in 

 many of the lakes in Mexico. It is much esteemed as an 

 article of food by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. 



We cannot speak of Mexico without having our minds 

 drawn to the time of the Aztec monarchy, when sumptuous 

 palaces, enormous temples, fortresses, and other public edifices 

 covered the face of the country. In the midst of the terri- 

 tory, on the western shore of the large lake of Tezcuco, stood 

 the city of Tenochtitlaii, the superb capital of the unfortunate 

 Montezuma, on the site of which has arisen the modern 

 Mexico. Though its glory has long passed away, the enor- 

 mous ruins which still remain attest its past grandeur. Vast 

 j pyramids, on a scale and of a massiveness which vie with those 

 of Egypt, still rear their lofty heads in great numbers through- 

 out the country ; while the ruins of other buildings prove 

 that the architecture of Mexico in many points resembled 



