MEXICO. 241 



We have thus, in Mexico, a region of elevated plateaux 

 with numerous lofty mountains, steep and broken hill-sides, 

 with deep valleys, watered by numerous streams, and a wide 

 extent of low, level country under the rays of a tropical sun. 

 These several regions possess a great difference in climate, 

 and a corresponding variation in their productions, and, in 

 most instances, in the animals which inhabit them. The 

 domestic animals introduced by the Spaniards, have multi- 

 plied greatly, so that vast herds of cattle and horses run wild 

 on the table-lands and lower tracts. Sheep also abound, 

 especially on the northern table-lands. The buffalo makes 

 his way to the great plains bordering the Red River and 

 Arkansas ; while deer, in large herds, abound on the higher 

 plains. They are followed, as elsewhere, by packs of wolves 

 and foxes or wild dogs ; while the puma makes himself at 

 home here, as he does in Southern America. The bear takes 

 possession of many a mountain cavern ; the beaver and otter 

 inhabit the banks of the streams and lakes ; the raccoon is 

 found in the woods ; and the antelope bounds across the 

 plains. 



We know more about the feathered tribes than the mam- 

 malia of Mexico. There are upwards of one hundred and 

 fourteen species of land birds, one half of which are unknown 

 in other parts of the world. Still, out of this entire number 

 of species, only one new genus — which connects the family of 

 the tyrant-shrikes with that of the caterpillar-catchers — has 

 been discovered. There are two species of this genus, in 

 both of which the males differ greatly from the females. In 

 this intermediate region we find numerous genera which exist 

 both in Northern and Southern America intermixed. Several 

 South American birds have found their way into Mexico, — as 

 (379) 16 



