HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



223 



With regard to birds, Mr. de Paw makes mention 

 only of oftriches, and that fo negligently as we have 

 fliewn. He certainly defigned to be filent on this fub- 

 jett, difcovering that on this fide his caufe was loft, for 

 whether we confider number or variety of fpecies, in- 

 trepidity, or beauty of plumage, and excellence of fong, 

 the old continent cannot be compared with America as 

 to birds. Of their furprifmg multitude we have already 

 fpoken. The fields, the woods, the rivers, the lakes, 

 and even inhabited places are filled with innumerable 

 fpecies. Gemeili, who had made the tour of the world, 

 and feen the bed countries of Afia, Africa, and Europe, 

 declares that there is not a country in the world which 

 can compare with New Spain in the beauty and variety 

 of its birds (/>). See what is faid by the hiftorians of 

 New France, Louifiana, Brafil, and other countries of 

 the new world, on this fubjeft. 



Of the ftrength and courage of American birds many 

 European authors worthy of credit make mention. Her- 

 nandez, who had fo much experience of birds of prey, 

 in the court of Philip II. king of Spain, at the time 

 when hawking was mod in vogue, and had obferved 

 alfo thofe of Mexico, confeffes when he talks of the 

 Jguauhtotli, or Mexican falcon, that all the birds of this 

 clafs are better and more courageous in New Spain than 

 they are in the old continent (jj). On account of the 



excellence 



crocodile is ufually more than feven paces long. If he fpeaks of Caftilian paces, 

 they make almoft twenty-eight Roman feet ; if he fpeaks of Roman paces, they 

 will make thirty-five feet, fo that the difference is trifling, or if there is any 

 it is in favour of the American crocodile. 



(p ) Ella e tanta la vaghezza e la varieta degl'i uccelli della JV. Spagna cho non ve 

 Paefe almondo, the ne abbia pari. Giro del Mondo. torn. vi. lib. ii. cap. 9. 



(q Fateor accipitrum omne genus apud hanc novam Hifpaniam, Jucatani- 

 camve provinciam repertum prseftantius effe atque animofius veterc in orbe 

 natis. Hernandez de Avibus N. Hifp. cap. 92. 



