::"::::»v TWO BIRD- LOVERS IN MEXICO M=^ 



From their sinewy folds of death to the beauty and 

 grace of a snow-white egret is, indeed, an extreme ; 

 but here snake and bird lived in close association, — 

 finding in the same swamp rest, shelter, and food. 

 We in the North have neglected the egrets until 

 well-nigh the last survivor has been murdered ; but 

 here in this wild place, where, outside of the towns, 

 a man's best law and safeguard is in his holster, these 

 birds have already found champions. Short tolerance 

 had the first plume-hunter — an American — who 

 began his nefarious work in the Chapala marshes. The 

 rough but beauty-loving caballeros who owned the 

 haciendas surrounding the lake talked it over, formed 

 — to all intents and purposes — an Audubon Society, 

 ran the millinery agent off, and forbade the shooting 

 of these birds. There was no fine or imprisonment for 

 shooting egrets, — only a widespread verbal " revolver 

 law," more significant and potent than many of our 

 inscribed legislative enactments. 



Loons and grebes delighted in the swampy end of 

 the lake — the former shrieking and diving in the 

 joyous abandon of their wild, unhunted lives. The 

 great Western Grebe was especially interesting, — an- 

 other species which must fight for very existence 

 in its Northern haunts, its silky breast having found 

 fatal favour in the eyes of milliners. 



Hundreds of White Pelicans ai"e said to make their 

 winter home here, breeding far to the northward ; but 



«<• 110 -^ 



