:::::::::=*>; two bird-LOVERS in MEXICO '#:""■"■" 



few creatures, but when the dense pine forest replaced 

 all more tropical growths, the sudden change in the 

 character of the fauna and flora was remarkable, and 

 trusting only to our ears, we might have believed our- 

 selves at home in the North in early spring. 



An hour ago and we were in the tropics, among 

 trogons and macaAvs ; here the notes of bluebirds 

 came to us, and we found that it was the very same 

 bird as that of our Northern orchards. A faint gold- 

 finch-like note had some unfamiliar quality, and its 

 author, though goldfinch-like in actions and flight, was 

 a black-headed, green-bodied little bird, which we must 

 call the Forrer Siskin. Bob-White ! rang clear and bold 

 through the pines, though the birds would not allow 

 us to approach them. There were many species of birds 

 keeping to the very tops of the tallest trees, which were 

 so wary that we found it impossible to identify them. 

 Audubon Warblers were abundant, and here they were 

 in full spring j^himage, while those at lower levels, 

 which we saw daily about our camp, were still clad in 

 their dull winter dress. 



But this forest of long-leaved jjines was too near the 

 tropics to be entirely boreal in its nature, and the Thick- 

 billed Parrot, the only sj^ecies of its order which finds 

 its way across the Rio Grande into the southwestern 

 part of our own country, was here tame and abundant 

 among the coniferous trees. It is either a very stupid 

 bird or controlled by its curiosity, for the flocks fol- 



- «4 250 ^ 



