I20 Nelson, Wiik Bob-rvhite in Mexico. fAprU 



Tehuantepec. From this place a railroad crosses the Isthmus 

 to the port of Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico, and we took 

 advantage of it to reach the eastern coast. Coatzacoalcos is a 

 curious little town destined to play an important part in the 

 development of southern Mexico and western Guatemala. It i*> 

 one of the few places in Mexico where small frame houses are 

 the prevailing style and reminds one more of some small mining 

 camp in the Far West than of a seaport on the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Here where yellow fever, malaria, and other ills stalk about 

 according to the season, we heard of howling monkeys, jaguars, 

 tapirs and other tropical creatures with which we still desired to 

 become more familiar. For this purpose we ascended the Coat- 

 zacoalcos River about twenty miles to the town of Minatitlan, a 

 place once noted for its enormous trade in Spanish cedar and 

 dye woods. We remained here some days in the midst of the 

 coast lowlands where the tropical forest is interrupted by grassy 

 prairies of considerable extent. In visiting these prairies we 

 were surprised and delighted to find another of the Bob-whites 

 that had not been previously known even to those most familiar 

 ^ith the ramifications of this good old stock. ^ Afterwards we 

 found them a few miles out of Coatzacoalcos, and they were seen 

 a little farther north in the open country about the shores of 

 beautiful lake Catemaco. This latter point is probably near their 

 limit in that direction. The handsome appearance of this unex- 

 pected species is shown in the accompanying drawing (Plate II) 

 by Mr. J. L. Ridgway. 



The distribution of the Mexican Bob-whites is curious and 

 shows that the family has been long in the land. They range 

 over parts of the cool tableland and extend down to the tropical 

 lowlands of both coasts, but are unaccountably absent from many 

 apparently suitable places. 



Many changes have taken place in their garb owing to the 

 influences and requirements peculiar to such varied situations, 

 but the general style is retained so that their relationship cannot 

 be mistaken. 



A representative of this group lives in Yucatan which, it is said 



^ Godman's Bob-while, Colinus godmani Nelson. 



