196 Letters , Extracts from Correspondence , Notices , fyc. 
Du enas. Coban. 
Selasphorus platycercus. 
Delattria henrici. 
Lamprolaema rharni. 
Tliaumastura lienicura. Thaumastura henicura. 
Thaumantias candidus. 
Lophornis lielena. 
“ Duenas, Dec. 31st, 1859. 
“ My trip to Vera Paz terminated a few days ago. As yet, I 
have not been able to arrange my collections, which are large, 
so as to be able to say more than what I wrote to you by 
last mail. I have been, and am exceedingly pleased with the 
results, and have gained a vast deal of information as regards 
the knowledge of the geography of the country. I fear you 
will be rather staggered by the number of birds I am sending- 
some 800; but I little knew, wdien I first arrived at Coban, 
what powerful assistance I was going to have w r hen I employed 
the small boys and their pea-shooters to bring me birds at 
a quartillo (1^*7.) a piece. The skins from San Geronimo reach 
100, and those I previously had here 250. Of those from the 
former place, some are interesting, especially the beautiful Mot- 
mot, which is common there; I also found Tnjphma duponti 
and Amazilia corallirostris. The plain of Salama is, as you 
will see on the map, connected by a tributary of the Eio de la 
Passion with the northern coast-region of Yucatan. On the 
opposite side of the southern range of hills which bound the 
plain, not five leagues from Salamh, at a place called Choacas, 
at about the same elevation, the watershed changes into that of 
the Motagua or Itio Grande. Consequently I found, on pass¬ 
ing from San Geronimo to this last-mentioned place, some five 
or six birds I had never observed at San Geronimo,—and my 
list of the birds of San Geronimo includes about 100 species. 
The changes of the physical features of this country have sur¬ 
prised and puzzled me much. The divisions seem to be these: 
First, the northern and southern coasts, which include the dense 
tropical forests; next come the arid plains and hills, such as 
those of Zaeapa and Salamh, also a hot country ; next the table¬ 
lands, which include the Altos ; and apart from these I place the 
