BIRDS OF SOUTHWESTERN MEXICO. 48 



" This bird prefers the forest for its dwelling above all other places, 

 but it goes almost always near seas and rivers. It is evidently a resi- 

 dent of Central Mexico, for toward the middle of May of this year 

 1871) I killed a female, whose ovary contained eggs developed enough 

 to lead one to believe that they were just ready to be laid. It gives 

 preference to trees of the thickest foliage ; it is rarely seen on naked 

 branches. Very fond of mollusks, like others of his tribe, he hunts 

 often on the ground and on the damp soil of forests bordering the sea, 

 or the sides of brooks, searching for gastropods, either of land or water. 

 From this habit, his bill, his feet, and his feathers are often much soiled." 



S4^. CyiBiindis usicmatu§ (111.). 



"Tehuantepec (Chihuitan, Santa Efigenia) ; January and May. 



" Iris white ; cere and lores green ; spot below nostril and the eye 

 yellow ; feet orange-yellow. 



" Notwithstanding the great difference of plumage between the old 

 and young of this species, their identity is easily recognized, in a fresh 

 state, by the beautiful yellow appearance of the naked skin between 

 the eye and the bill. The habits of this species are almost identical 

 with those of C. cayenensis ; that is to say, that they prefer the woods 

 in the vicinity of water. Its food is composed principally of mollusks, 

 and I have found their stomachs almost always full of the remains of 

 a large species of Orthaticus, a land gastropod very abundant in the 

 woods of Western Mexico." 



34^. IctiiMa pluml^ea (Gm.). 



"Tehuantepec (Chimalapa); March, 1869. 



" Iris brown ; bill horny ; feet brownish. 



" It comes from Chimalapa, where, as on the coast of Vera Cruz, it is 

 only a bird of passage. I observed a few years ago, near San Andres, 

 Ticatla, several bands or companies of these birds traveling toward the 

 north." 



^44, Circus Cyaiaeus var. Iaisdsi®iifliis (Linn.). 

 " Tehuantepec City ; winter." 



S4^. P®lyfe®r«§ tliarus var. awdufeoiiiij Casa, 

 " Partout universel." 



Fam. CATIIARTIfl>iE, 



S4©. Catlisirtes papa (Linn.). 

 " Partout universel." 



