A NATURALIST'S JOURNEY AROUND VERA CRUZ 541 



A DREAM COMJ' TRUE 



It was such a scene as one might well 

 have dreamed of, but scarcely expect to 

 find when waking ; nor did it altogether 

 fade with the rising sun. These birds 

 were not only feeding, but living, near us, 

 and when their early morning hunger was 

 satisfied many of them were found to be 

 nesting, or preparing to nest, within sight 

 of our tent. 



A ground dove sat calmly on her two 

 white eggs in the heart of a small orange 

 tree at the ranch-house door ; a red-billed 

 pigeon, for some reason dissatisfied with 

 the site in which its nest was built, was 

 moving it twig by twig to a new situation 

 in a limb above our tent ; a pair of pileated 

 woodpeckers had taken possession of a 

 dead trunk about 150 feet from camp, 

 making the entrance to their nest directly 

 beneath a large projecting fungus, which 

 served as an admirable hood to their 



* doorway ; yellow - headed parrots were 

 prospecting for a homestead in a dead 



* tree on the river shore, and appeared and 

 disappeared in its hollow limbs in a man- 

 ner which seemed to indicate they felt at 

 home ; while a pair of red-capped parrots 

 were evidently much annoyed to find that 

 a cavity which appeared to be acceptable 

 was already occupied by a lizard about 

 2 feet in length, who refused to be dis- 

 lodged, but continued to bask quietlv at 

 his threshold with, no doubt, irritating 

 calmness. 



Three factors accounted for the abun- 

 dance and familiarity of the birds about 

 our camp in the ranch-house clearing: 

 First, the larger forest trees had been 

 left standing and only the undergrowth 

 cut out; second, many of these trees, 

 locally known as "otaheite," were bearing 

 fruit of which parrots . and some other 

 birds were particularly fond ; third, the 

 birds were not molested. 



To see the species which required either 

 undergrowth or wholly primeval condi- 

 tions, it was necessary only to climb the 

 corral fence, 200 yards away, and enter 

 the forest on its farther side. The trees 

 were not high, but the growth was dense, 

 and in places the ground was covered 

 with wild pines having leaves bordered 

 hy a series of strong hooks, which, set in 

 both directions, were more productive of 



eloquence than progress when one at- 

 tempted to leave the forest path. 



BOLD AND TIMID BIRDS 



Here, if one could avoid the big brown 

 jays (Psilorhinus) , which, with jerky 

 flight and raucous calls, followed one with 

 maddening persistence, he might find the 

 copper-tailed trogon and hear its flicker- 

 like coo or detect the elusive, echo-like 

 Jwot of the mot-mot; and in the early 

 morning the air vibrated with the soft, 

 conch-like cooing of the semi-terrestrial 

 white - fronted dove (Lcptotilla) , while 

 chachalaccas rattled, woodhewers (Den- 

 drornis) piped, wrens of several species 

 called or sang from the lower growth, 

 and overhead there were warblers, tan- 

 agers, and vireos, some on their way 

 north, others preparing to nest. 



The banks of the river were too high 

 and too continuously wooded to be suit- 

 able for water-loving birds, and the river 

 is memorable to us chiefly as a fly-way 

 of the splendid Muscovy duck, wild an- 

 cestor of a much degraded barn-yard de- 

 scendant. 



No one lacked for occupation at Paso 

 del Haba. Shiras hunted with camera by 

 sunlight and flashlight, securing photo- 

 graphs of birds by day and of beasts by 

 night, and left, no doubt, a more vivid 

 and lasting impression on the minds of 

 two natives who unwittingly sprang one 

 of his flashlight camera-traps than even 

 his dry plate recorded.* 



The naturalists added to their store of 

 notes and specimens, while the keen, dis- 

 criminating ear of Fuertes led to the dis- 

 covery of a surprising new species of 

 oriole, possibly the ancestral form of our 

 familiar orchard oriole. 



ORX ITHOLOGI ST ' S PARADI SE 



Given the same considerate host who 

 made our stay at his home so care- free, 

 and hence productive as well as enjoy- 

 able, and somewhat more stable govern- 

 mental conditions than have lately pre- 

 vailed in this vicinity, and I know of no 

 place where an ornithologist might hope 

 to learn' more of the habits of many tropi- 



* See the article by Mr. Shiras in National 

 Geographic Magazine, July, 1913, "Wild ani- 

 mals that took their own pictures by day and 

 by night," page 807. 



