:::";:::1: TWO BIRD -LOVERS IN MEXICO B--""" 



now shooting ahead and suddenly bringing up, bal- 

 ancing a moment on half-spread wings, then darting 

 on again. Back and forth they would go, in loose, 

 irregular flocks, winnowing the air of insects. Fifty 

 or more would straggle past and a few minutes later 

 return downstream, apparently remaining in the warm 

 zone, sheltered from the winds, where insects were more 

 abundant. These swallows and the Black Plioebes were 

 active even during the greatest heat of the day. 



Not far from camp were several groves of wide- 

 branching wild fig-trees. These were the grandest 

 trees of this part of Mexico, branching almost from 

 the ground and stretching out their vast mass of foli- 

 age on all sides. Some of them measured fully ten feet 

 through, near the base. Their fruit is devoured by 

 cattle, deer, and birds, although in this locality it was 

 not yet ripe. Scores of birds were sometimes found in 

 one tree. 



The bark was only slightly roughened and was of a 

 light colour, and on many trees meandering black lines 

 extended along the underside of the limbs and branches, 

 meeting and again separating, until they formed an 

 irregular network, ramifying throughout the whole tree 

 to the very topmost branches. These were earthen tun- 

 nels made by a species of small flesh-coloured ant. The 

 tunnels crumbled at a touch, and, from each opening at 

 the sides of the exjjosed area, a legion of ants appeared. 

 They did not immediately riish out, but the entire 



'4 192 ^ 



