:::::::::*; TWO BlRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO M=^ 



up a good living of insects which were disturbed by 

 the hoofs of the animals. When a steer began crop- 

 ping the short grass of some jungle lawn, a circle of 

 these shm black birds kept close to the muzzle of the 

 beast. He seemed to recoanize their useful offices and 

 never attempted to molest them. They are strange, 

 loose-jointed birds, their wings hanging flimsily and 

 their long tails blowing about in the breeze, over their 

 backs or between their legs. Even in flight, their wings 

 and tails seem each moment about to fail in their 

 resj^ective functions. When theu" bovine comrades lay 

 down to rest for the night, the Anis roosted upon 

 their broad backs. 



The most interesting: bird which revealed itself to us 

 in our brookside tangle was a species of wood-heAver. 

 At first sight one got an impression of a gigantic Brown 

 Creeper, and no wonder, for as far as the literal mean- 

 ing of that name is concerned, it was brown and it 

 crept up the trunks of trees. As in the case of the 

 trogons, motmots, and parrots, this bird was almost 

 at the northern limit of the range of its family — the 

 Dendi'ocolaptidce, or wood-hewers. Farther south in 

 Central and South America the members of this group 

 form no inconsiderable portion of the avifauna, number- 

 ing some two hundred and twenty species. Among 

 these are birds which are found on the open pampas 

 and which are, of course, terrestrial in their mode of 

 life ; others are found on or near the ground in dense 



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