"■■•""•■:*[ TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO B-""-: 



flat and broad that a frog was instantly brought to 

 mind. Its hoarse cry was very different from the notes 

 of the other birds, and was not unlike the tearr-r-r ! of 

 an anxious mother tern. When several j^airs of these 

 birds alighted in a near-by tree, they seemed the very 

 grandsires of all flycatchers. The Least Flycatchers 

 did not deserve their name, at least not in this bar- 

 ranca, for we now and then caught sight of the tiniest 

 and shyest of all — the Beardless Flycatcher. It was 

 undoubtedly a bird of this species, and we were sorry 

 that we did not succeed in o-ettino- close enough to it 

 to learn some of its habits. All of this species which 

 we saw later were feeding on small berries and not 

 on insects. 



THE STREAM AND ITS FIG-TREES 



Whether we sat quietly by the foaming stream or 

 picked our way through bushes and over rocks along 

 its banks, there was always something new and strange 

 to see, and if we could have remained years instead of 

 a week or two, there would have been no lessening of 

 interest ou our part. Mexican Cormorants flew back 

 and forth, and, for an experiment, one day we had Ri- 

 cardo parboil one for us and then make it into a stew, 

 and we were surprised to find that the meat was tender 

 and that it had no disagreeable odour. These cor- 

 morants varied their diet of fish with certain aquatic 

 plants, which grew in the more quiet pools. Mallards 



«4 190 ^ 



