Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, tyc. 467 
Calliste larvata, four specimens ; a fringilline bird, indigo-blue 
all over, which I do not know ; Ramphocelus passerini; Amasilia 
riefferi (or arsinoe ?); Tliaumantias candidus, and several other 
species which I do not know. Platalea ajaja and Ibis rubra 
were very clearly described to me by Mr. George Baily, a resi¬ 
dent at Yzabal: the former was killed on the lake of Duenas 
(Constancia now has the specimen), so may certainly be included 
in our list. On the road up I could collect nothing, as I was 
by myself and without a servant, and consequently had to look 
out for food for myself and beast, instead of skinning birds, 
which I should have done had I had any one to do those indis¬ 
pensable requisites for me. However, I saw many birds; but 
those that interested me most were two specimens of Momotus —• 
one with a brown head, the commonest of the two, and the other 
a smaller species, with the centre tail-feathers much elongated : 
the former of these equals in size M. lessoni, but is quite dif¬ 
ferent. This bird seems very proud of its tail, and, sluggish as 
it is in other respects, is particularly fond of whisking it about— 
at one time throwing it almost over the back, at another moving 
it several times backwards and forwards, ‘ painfully 9 like (to 
use a homely simile) the pendulum of a Dutch clock. Its note 
rendered in words is rather a sort of ‘ whorrrrrr 9 than f hou 
hou 9 : I saw nothing of its nest, though I looked out sharply. 
The country in which these birds most abound lies between 
Gualan and Guastatoya, including the plain of Zacapa. All this 
district is an unfertile f tierra caliente/ covered principally with 
Cacti and Mimosa. Since I arrived here I have obtained some 
good specimens of the five species of Humming-birds found near 
at hand. I have also the Raven, a Swift which I do not know, 
and several others. A week ago I went up the Volcan de Fuego, 
that is, part of the way—some 9000 feet. I penetrated into the 
haunts of the Oreophasis and Quesal (Pharomacrus paradiseus) 
without result, but was much surprised with the nature of the 
district. What with the few birds I collected at Yzabal, and 
those I find inhabiting these dense elevated forests, I am sorely 
shaken in my notions as regards the true inhabitants of the 
f tierra caliente , and ( tierra fria/ The former require a care¬ 
ful inspection—not but that the latter require it also. But 
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