4 . 
in the art of shooting "birds,at least showing him how _I did it,and after 
returning to camp I started him out "by himself to collect,while I like¬ 
wise went alone. 
This arrangement worked out more satisfactorily than I w'ould have 
dared to hope. Modesto proved to "be an exceptinal hunter,with a keen 
eye and wonderful memory for identifying "birds in the field which we 
had not collected,or that we particularly wanted. I was thus enabled to 
spend less time in the field myself,and more time in skinning,so that 
the collection now increased very rapidly. 
On March 11th.we made our first trip to the Cerro de Tuxtla. 
We rode to Tapacoyan.a little village huddled at the west flank of the 
mountain, 
and there secured a guide for the ascent,reaching the lower 
of the two peaks which form the summit,and getting back to camp at 
about 6 P.M. Since the birds taken had scarcely been exposed to the 
sun,and the nights were still cool,they kept very well until they could 
be skinned on the following day. 
light trips in all were made from Camp to the mountain,between 
March 11 and April 3rd,the results of which were amazingly successful. 
496 skins were collected during this period between 5eb,<c,2 and April 12. 
On April 13 I packed a light outfit which could be carried on one 
mule,and the following day(April 14) Modesto and I left Tres Zapotes 
for San Andrei,having as our ultimate objective,the Volcano ox San 
Martin,lying northeast of that town,where I hoped to be able to spend 
a week or ten days and get some idea,at least of its bird fauna. 
We reached San Andres late in the afternoon without incident,and 
that night I was able to contact a man there who had been recommended 
to me by Adolfo Gutierrez. This chap claimed to know the trail well to 
the summit of the volcano,and promised to start with us early the next 
morning. He told me that there was a house somewhere up on the slopes 
