FEEDING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 



Photo by Frank M. Chapman 



"We could see dozens of delicately colored pink forms, while in nearly every tree was 

 one or more nests holding young nearly as large and as pink as the parents which had just 

 left them. We had at last reached the home of the spoonbill" (see text, page 544). 



natives. This last circumstance so 

 shocked an English salesman that with 

 difficulty we prevented him from buying 

 us first-class tickets. * 



Several days later Fuertes and I, with 

 W. F. Patterson, a fellow-member of the 

 Explorers' Club, who, finding us at Cor- 

 doba vainly searching for a cook, had 

 volunteered to fill the position (which, I 

 may interpolate, is now permanently open 

 to him!), left Coscomatepec with three 

 saddle and two pack animals. Mist and 

 clouds obscured all but the near-by land- 

 scape. The trail was good, but as slip- 

 pery as though soaped, and the animals 

 fell with discouraging frequency. We 

 were now in the Temperate Zone, a re- 



gion favorable alike for man and maize, 

 and hence so populated and cultivated 

 that the original growth has long disap- 

 peared. 



The last mango trees and coffee planta- 

 tions. were left at 4,700 to 4,900 feet, and 

 at 5,000 feet the trail was bordered by 

 great sycamores. Within the succeeding 

 500 feet we saw hawthorn blooming, 

 wild ("rum") cherry trees with green 

 fruit, poplars, and oaks; and these trees, 

 with willows, peaches, pears, apples, 

 elderberries, huckleberries, and lupines, 

 were characteristic of the zone through 

 which we were traveling. 



Few birds were or could be seen, but 

 the presence of robins and flickers (both 



549 



