68 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



family, known as the black-breasted bobwhite (Colinus 

 pectoralis, Gould). They were living in brush-grown 

 and weedy old fields sometimes straying about the 

 coffee plantations and were on friendly terms with 

 most of their tropical neighbors. Fortunately, in these 

 parts guns and dogs are few, and mostly harmless, so 

 that Bob's days were generally peaceful and contented. 

 But even here life was not without its cares, for the 

 spotted tiger-cats and woolly-haired opossums, with 

 sad lack of consideration, were given to nocturnal raids 

 that filled them with terror and sometimes lessened 

 their numbers. 



"From Orizaba our wanderings led far away over 

 plains and mountains to the city of Tehuantepec, on the 

 hot lowlands bordering the Pacific coast. There we 

 found our friends again, but known as the Coyolcos 

 bobwhite (Colinus coy okas, Mull.). They were com- 

 mon, and although their garb had changed consider- 

 ably, yet their voices and mode of life remained true 

 to the family traditions. Indeed, so fixed are old hab- 

 its among them that even. long association with the 

 suave and politic Mexican has failed to cure Bob of one 

 custom that I often deplored during my youthful days, 

 when, gun in hand, I sought to make his acquaintance. 

 I refer to' that abruptness of manner which is shown in 

 such a disconcerting way when one comes upon him in 

 his favorite haunts. 



"Near Tehuantepec their home is on the partly wood- 

 ed and partly grassy plains. Old fields and grassy prai- 

 ries, that extend irregularly amid the scrubby forests 



