62 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



forms and manners. Their prodigious numbers, their va- 

 riety, and many valuable qualities, have occafioned fomc 

 authors to obferve that, as Africa is the country of beads, 

 fo Mexico is the country of birds. Hernandez, in his 

 Natural Hiftory, defcribes above two hundred fpecies 

 peculiar to that kingdom, and yet palTes over many that 

 deferve notice, fuch as the Cuitlacochi^ the Zacua^ and 

 the Madrugador. We fliall content ourfelves with run- 

 ning over fome clafTes of them, and point out any peculi- 

 arities, here and there, as they occur. Among the birds 

 of prey there are keftrels, gofshawks, and fever al fpe- 

 cies of eagles, falcons, and fparrow-hawks. The natu- 

 ralifl: already mentioned, allows the birds of this clafs a 

 fuperiority over thofe of Europe \ and the excellence of 

 the Mexican falcons was fo remarkable, that by the de- 

 Cre of Philip the Second, a hundred were every year fent 

 to Spain. The largefl:, the mofl: beautiful, and the moft 

 valuable among the eagles is that named by the Mexi- 

 cans, lizquauhtli^ which not only purfues the larger birds 

 and hares, but will even attack men and beafts. There 

 are two kinds of keflrel j the one called Cenotzqui is par- 

 ticularly beautiful. 



The Ravens of Mexico, called by the Mexicans Caca- 

 lotly do not, as in other countries, clear the fields of car* 

 rion, but are only employed in ftealing the ears of corn. 

 The bufmefs of clearing the fields there, is referved prin- 

 cipally for the Zopilots^ known in South America by the 

 name of GaUinazzi ; in other places, by that of jlure ; 

 and in fome places, though very improperly, by that of 

 ravens («). There are two very different fpecies of thefe 



birds ; 



(») Hernandez has, without any hefitation, made the Zopilote a fpecies of 

 raven ; but they are, certainly, very different birds, not only in their fize, but in 

 ihe fliape of the head ; in their flight, and in their voice. Bomare fays, that 



the 



