Identifier: twobirdloversinm00beeb (find matches)
Title: Two bird-lovers in Mexico
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Natural history -- Mexico Birds -- Mexico
Publisher: London, A. Constable & company, ltd. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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)irit of the flock — as it pleases me to call thissympathy of movement—aj)pears imdecided, as thebirds hesitate a moment over a bit of marsh. A halfdozen aliglit for an instant, but the time is not yet,and quickly they leap into the air again and seemalmost to snap into their places. Finally, both flockssweep in a horizontal plane over the marsh, bring upwitli a sudden short curve, and two hundred wings arefolded and a liundred l)irds ))egin busily probing thehyacinths and muddy shallows; the conq)elling powerhas dissolved into entities, each perfect and individual,— the Spirit of the flock is no more. The unwatered country about Guadalajara fiUfilledour idea of a desert, but when we saw a real alkaliwaste, we agreed that the former region in no wise «4 8^2 ^
Text Appearing After Image:
^0r- Scott, photographer THE ORGAN CACTUS ::::;:::3e OASIS AND DESERT m:::::::: deserved the opprobrium. Long before the actual rainsbegin, vegetation seems to feel a quickening in the air ;the plants scent the coming moisture weeks before-hand and spring to life, — except on the alkali plain.The very last glimpse we had of it showed no sign ofspring, no hint of green or of returning life, no resur-rection of flowers or even of blades of grass. At night the moon looked down upon a desolate aridplain stretching away to the mountains on the horizon.The air was chill and a bleak wind searched out everyfold in our blankets; we might almost have beenspending a night on the Arctic tundras. Absolutesilence reigned ; neither coyote nor bird of the nightbroke the awful hush. If one was wakeful, it was arelief at times to grind ones heels into the pumice,or to speak — any sound making a welcome breakin the everlasting silence of the deserts sleep. Withscarce a moment of dawn, the sun floode

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