::::;:::»x TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO Afe:"-:" 



farther, so that the tiny hummingbirds were provided 

 for. Wee harlequin grasshoppers, gaudily attired in 

 black and white, yellow and red, were snapped up by 

 the score and were just of a size for a mouthful for a 

 chiqmrosa. These miniature grasshoppers were full 

 grown and widely distributed throughout the country. 



After a moment's silence in one of the cactus-shaded 

 ditches, the little inhabitants with fur and scales made 

 their presence known by sudden scamperings and 

 dartings here and there. It was here we beg:an to 

 learn the lesson which week after week in Mexico en- 

 forced, that a rustle among the leaves, slight or vigor- 

 ous, nine times out of ten was made by a lizard, the 

 commotion being out of all proportion to the size of 

 the reptile. 



A forty-inch Iguana could steal almost noiselessly 

 through a mass of brittle leaves, while the flight of 

 a diminutive " blue-tail," not more than three inches 

 from head to tail-tip, would sometimes sound like a 

 whole band of scratching^ towhees or white-throats. 

 It was hard not to watch instinctively for the supposed 

 bird in the near-by bush, and the minutes we spent at 

 first in this fruitless way, if collected, would equal many 

 hours. 



Pouched rats {Geomys) were very abundant in 

 the ditches, and scores of their burrows tunnelled the 

 sides. We occasionally caught one in a box-trap and 

 made it turn out the contents of its capacious cheeks. 



■^ 58 > 



