The birds taken include Mexican house finches, green singing finches, java sparrows, Bengalese finches, diamond doves, painted finches and waxbills.

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The estate is surrounded by lush green gardens full of native Mexican plants, geese and peacocks.

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Research by Wendy Manning of Bowling Green State University and others shows that unmarried Mexican-American couples who have children while living together are slightly more likely to break up than are blacks or whites in similar circumstances.

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Elsewhere on the earnings front, Aetna (AET), AOL (AOL), Hershey Foods ( HSY), Allstate (ALL), BMC Software (BMC), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Electronic Arts ( ERTS), Green Mountain Coffee ( GMCR), Las Vegas Sands ( LVS), and Qualcomm ( QCOM) are scheduled to release their quarterly reports.

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As the car wound around a tight bend, the Mexican police officer who gave me a ride pointed off towards the rugged green mountains just ahead.

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