68 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



which is very good eating, is about the fize of the com- 

 mon fowl. The upper part of the body is of a brown 

 colour, the under part whitifli, and the bill and feet 

 bluifli. It is inconceivable what a noife thefe birds 

 make in the woods, with their cries ; which, although 

 they fomewhat refemble the cackling of fowls, are 

 much louder, more conftant, and more difagreeable. 

 There are feveral fpecies of turtle-doves, and pigeons, 

 fome common to Europe, others pecuUar to thofe coun- 

 tries. 



The birds valuable for their plumage are fo many and 

 fo beautiful, that we ftiould afford a greater pleafure to 

 our readers, if we could bring them before their eyes, 

 with all the colours which adorn them. I have reckon- 

 ed five and thirty fpecies of Mexican birds, that are 

 fuperlatively beautiful ; of fome of which I muft take 

 particular notice. 



The Huitziizilin is that wonderful little bird fo often 

 celebrated by the hiftorians of America, for its fmall- 

 nefs, its aftivity, the fingular beauty of its plumage, 

 the thinnefs of its food, and the length of its fleep in 

 the winter. That flcep, or rather ftate of immobility, 

 occafioned by the numbnefs or torpor of its limbs, has 

 been often required to be proved in legal form, in order 

 to convince fome incredulous Europeans ; an incredulity 

 arifmg from ignorance alone, as the fame kind of tor- 

 por takes place in many parts of Europe, in dormice, 

 hedge-hogs, fwallows, bats, and other animals whofe 

 blood is of the fame temperature; although perhaps 

 it does not continue fo long in any of them as in the 

 Huitziizilin, which in fome countries remains without 



motion 



