NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



627 



Bufficiently distributed throughout the 

 j^ear. 



1. Chocd Forest. This occupies the 

 area between the Western Cordillera 

 and the Pacific Ocean, including north- 

 ward the Atrato Valley and the shores 

 about the head of the Gulf of Darien. 

 This region is probably the most humid 

 in the American Tropics and, except for 

 remote arid pockets due to local con- 

 figuration, is wholly covered with a 

 dense rain-forest. There is a great 

 variety of hardwood trees. Trees of the 

 Rubiaceae are probably most abundant, 

 while those of the Melastomaceae, 

 Lauraceae and other families are com- 

 mon. Very frequent are trees with the 

 tips of the leaves elongated. Palms are 

 prominent, especially along streams. 

 There are many lianas, some woody, 

 some as various Araceae heavy and 

 succulent. Epiphytes, chiefly ferns and 

 Bromeliaceae, occur in moderate num- 

 ber. The floor of the forest supports 

 much underbrush, bushes or stout 

 foliaceous herbs. There may be also 

 ferns, Selaginellas and mosses. Along 

 water-courses and other openings are 

 thickets of bamboo or of broad-leaved 

 succulent wild bananas and like plants. 

 Excepting the gaudy red bracts and 

 yellow pedicels and flowers of these 

 Heliconias, there is little bloom to 

 break the green of the rank vegetation. 



Near the coast are wooded swamps, 

 and the Pacific shore is lined probably 

 throughout with mangrove swamps. 



Dr. Chapman's "Distribution of the 

 Bird-life of Colombia" reports 150 kinds 

 of birds in the Choc6 Forest, of which 

 100 are restricted thereto. The chief 

 families in order of number of kinds 

 are (1) Tyrannidae, (2) Formicariidae, 

 (3) Dendrocalaptidae, (4) Tanagridae, 

 (5) Trochilidae. 



"The mammals are in general related 

 to those of the Amazonian forest, in 

 many cases showing slight subspecific 

 difTerences. Among them are the jaguar 

 ocelot, sloths, paca, agouti, capuchin 

 monkey, red howling monkey, night 

 monkej% and various opossums includ- 

 ing the woolly opossum (Philander) 



and the water opossum (Chironectes) ; 

 small rodents and bats of many species 

 are abundant." 



Southward and over most of the 

 Choc6 Forest heavy rainfall occurs 

 throughout the year, but northward 

 this becomes increasingly seasonally 

 distributed until on the lower Atrato 

 the rains occur from April to December, 

 with January to March nearly or quite 

 rainless. 



Only near a few settlements has this 

 forest been cleared. 



The middle Choco Forest may be 

 visited most readily from Buenaventura 

 on the coast, and at Cordoba, Santa Rosa 

 and Cisneros, stations on the Buenaven- 

 tura to Call railroad. These forest 

 stations are without hotels and in 

 malarial country, but may be visited 

 on day excursions from Buenaventura. 

 From Buenaventura small boats ply 

 north to the Rio San Juan, and south to 

 the Rio Micay. The northern Choco 

 Forest may be studied from Quibdo and 

 other points on the Rio Atrato reached 

 via steamer from Cartagena. 



2. Magdalena-Sinu Forest. This for- 

 est occupies the middle Magdalena and 

 lower Cauca vallej's from La Dorada 

 in the Rio Magdalena and from above 

 Caceres on the Rio Cauca down to their 

 delta-like confluence, thence extending 

 westward over the San Jorge and upper 

 Sinu valleys to the Gulf of Darien. 

 The forest is of moderate density and 

 height, and trees with broad and ir- 

 regular leaves occur more frequently 

 than in the Choco Forest. Probably 

 trees of the Rubiaceae and Lauraceae 

 are less frequent than in the Choco, 

 while Bombacaceae (ceibas) and Lecy- 

 thidaceae (monkey-pots) are more evi- 

 dent. Along the rivers star-leaved 

 Cecropias are conspicuous. Woody 

 lianas such as various Sapindaceae 

 and Bignoniaceae, are common but huge 

 Araceae are few relative to the Choco. 

 Epiphytes are not numerous until the 

 foot-hills of the Cordilleras are reached 

 where ferns and Bromeliaceae become 

 common. Along the rivers, as may be 

 seen from the Magdalena steamer, occur 



