^'Isg's^l Nelson, Wi'f// Boh-ivhite in Mexico. 



117 



Orizaba, we found otliers of the family, known as the Black- 

 breasted Bob-white \_C()/i>iiis 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 noctur- 

 nal 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 Bob-white \_CoIinus coyolcos (Miill.)]. 

 They were common, and although their garb had changed con- 

 siderably, yet their voices and mode of life remained true to the 

 family traditions. Indeed, so fixed are old habits 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 wooded and 

 partly grassy plains. Old fields and grassy prairies, that extend 

 irregularly amid the scrubby forests of that district, are their 

 favorite haunts. Here the mesquites, mimosas, acacias, cassias, 

 Brazil wood, ebony, mahogany, Spanish cedar, and other tropical 

 trees and bushes, give the landscape quite a different aspect from 

 that wdiich Bob is accustomed to see in his northern home. Old 

 cornfields and weedy indigo plantations are popular resorts and 

 furnish an abundance of food. Brush fences of thorny scrub are 

 built about these fields and serve as fine places of shelter in times 

 of danger. The Quails do not penetrate heavily wooded bottoms 

 along streams, where the moisture causes a vigorous tropical 

 forest growth, unless some farmer hews out a clearing for his 

 cornfields. In these forest belts the Motmots, Trogons. Red- 



