::::::::»|: TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO B-""™ 



finding. The half-sodden meadows must indeed have 

 been a limitless storehouse for insects and seeds, 

 since they afforded food for so great a number of 

 birds. 



So absorbed was I in watching the various species, 

 that I forgot the exigencies of my unusual position 

 on the horse and, losing my hold, I dropped ignomin- 

 iously into a j^uddle. A roar of wings sounded in 

 my ears as I gained my feet, and a swift look around 

 showed a myriad of forms in hurried flight — all 

 blackbirds hoAvever ; not a Meadowlark, had flown, but 

 like magic, at the first suspicion of danger, every yel- 

 low breast had disappeared. The glass revealed skulk- 

 ing gray and mottled forms stalking stealthily among 

 the reeds, but the naked eye refused to distinguish 

 them from the vegetation. No glint of yellow betrayed 

 them ; in the flask of an eye a hundred brilliant-hued, 

 vocal creatures within a few square yards of us had 

 turned about and — vanished, many times safer than 

 the fleeing blackbirds, a shot among which would have 

 slain half a hundred. But from us all were safe, and 

 after I resumed my Mexican stalking position and rode 

 on, the alarm ceased almost immediately. The flocks 

 of Yellowheads and Red-wings settled many ranks 

 deep among the reeds, and one by one, like the stars 

 in early evening, the breasts of the reassured larks 

 flashed out, and again their melody rang sweet and 

 full as before. 



«4 116 ^ 



