BOBWHITE IN MEXICO 67 



robe of the White Lady Iztaccihuatl shining over 

 his shoulder. In front a sweeping plain descended for 

 many miles, through a district of great sugar estates, 

 to the far horizon, where it was walled in by the blue 

 front of distant mountains. 



"Turning to one side, I approached some scrubby 

 bushes which appeared to offer shelter for birds or 

 other game. Suddenly the familiar accents of my 

 mother tongue fell on my ear. I listened with bated 

 breath. Again arose in clear, round tones, the calls so 

 familiar in my boyhood days, bobwhite, bobwhite. 

 With eager steps I hastened forward to a small group 

 of acacias, and there, quietly perched on top of a bush, 

 was an old friend, the author of the notes. It is diffi- 

 cult to describe the mingled pleasure and exultation 

 caused by this unexpected meeting. It proved to be the 

 Puebla bobwhite (Colinus graysoni nigripectus, Nel- 

 son), and during the following days a number of oth- 

 ers were seen, and it became evident that my friend of 

 the first morning was one of a colony located in the 

 neighborhood. 



"Afterward, during my Mexican travels, I learned 

 that the bobwhites are widely spread in that country, 

 and although many of them have changed the color of 

 their dress more or less, yet their customs and tricks 

 of speech remain much the same as in their northern 

 home. 



"At a later date during this same season, while work- 

 ing down the eastern slope of the Cordillera in Vera 

 Cruz, near the city of Orizaba, we found others of the 



