:::::::::*; TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO ;*::"."::: 



silvery song. The boulders are less frequent now and 

 the velvety, yielding sand strews our path with silence. 

 Something crackles and pushes through the bushes 

 ahead of us and we stop motionless. Two Mexican 

 Deer walk down the steep slope and then turn river- 

 ward. Some instinct, born of their alert, wild life, 

 impels them to turn and look at us, and there we stand, 

 almost afraid to breathe, lest w^e startle them. Our 

 hearts seem t<^ beat audibly, our pulses to click. The 

 deer stand as if cut in stone, twitching not a muscle. 

 All their beingf is straining' throuo-h those four larg-e 

 eyes — those quivering nostrils. Is it life or death 

 which they see ? 



The strain becomes unbearable and we step forward. 

 Eight tendons snap, and lift the deer high in air. 

 Two white tails shine out, and leaping from ledge to 

 ledge, the two animals go up the hillside, sailing 

 smoothly, swiftly, among bush and crag, until they 

 vanish in the dimness of the larger groAvth. 



Armadillos scurry heavily, like little overladen tug- 

 boats, across the river of sand, and more than once a 

 fox drifts noiselessly into its hole. We pass the tangle 

 of white seed-fluffs where we know the trogons are 

 roosting, and, turning down the last bend of the array o, 

 come into full view' of our tents, shining in the moon- 

 hght. 



Stronger than ever there comes to us the love of all 

 the wildness which receives and shelters us so kindly. 



«4 256 ^ 



