"^"is^^l Nklson, r//f Ini/^cridl Jx'ory-hllird Wuuilpeckcr. 219 



sunliglit. The next instant my listless attitude had vanisJicd, for 

 a pair of Imperial Ivory-bills swung up and alighted near the top 

 of a large dead pine on the border of an Indian cornfield. We 

 stopped at once and after dismounting had no trouble in walking 

 up within easy gunshot. As the male moved out on a large 

 branch a charge of number five shot started him ofT in an erratic 

 course and the second barrel brought him whirling to the ground. 

 The female was clinging to the trunk near the top of the tree and 

 at the report of the gun flew away over the cornfields and forest 

 as if leaving the neighborhood. The male was only winged and 

 as we approached threw himself over on his tail, with outspread 

 wings, presenting a warlike front of threatening beak and talons. 

 It was impossible not to admire the courage and defiance shown 

 by the fierce glow of his golden-yellow eyes and upraised flaming 

 crest. After stowing the prize carefully away in a saddle-bag we 

 rode on, but chancing to look back saw the female returning at a 

 height of two or three hundred yards looking for her mate. She 

 passed over the tree from which the male was shot and after 

 making a wide circuit again disappeared in the forest. 



Soon after sunset we approached Nahuatzin, a picturesque 

 village of steep-roofed houses, situated in a long mountain valley 

 and inhabited by Tarascan Indians. The houses were almost 

 concealed by fruit trees through which rose long, slender columns 

 of smoke that trailed off slowly in the calm evening air and 

 settled in heavy banks in low parts of the valley. 



As the shadows of night fell on the bordering wooded hills we 

 scanned with interest the fading outlines of our new field. One 

 of my companions had been here before and his friends received 

 us with much good will and gave us quarters for the night. The 

 following morning our camp was made on the top of a high hill to 

 the west of Nahuatzin, at the border of a little park in the midst 

 of the pines. From the brow of the hill close by was a free out- 

 look across the valley v/hence a billowy succession of pine covered 

 hills extended away to the blue distance, broken here and there 

 by dull yellow openings of the grassy parks. The first day in 

 camp, just before sunrise, my curiosity was aroused by a succes- 

 sion of queer, nasal, penny-trumpet-like notes from the summit of 

 a rounded hill near by. The notes were new to me and I waited 



