Aug. 1922. Game Birds — Osgood & Conover. 21 



character of the forest changes to semi-arid or arid, and isolated pock- 

 ets of this character of considerable extent may thus occur. Such 

 pockets were noted especially along the Rio Chama below Merida and 

 along the Rio Motatan between Valera and Timotes ; another occurs 

 in the vicinity of San Jose de Cucuta, Colombia. The mountains rise 

 abruptly from the alluvial plain, especially to the eastward of the mouth 

 of the Rio Chama, and reach such heights that they support an exten- 

 sive paramo fauna and very large areas of temperate zone forest. 

 From a "knot" between the sources of the Rio Chama and the Rio 

 Motatan they extend in three principal chains: (i) La Culata, or 

 northern Sierra, which lies northeast of the city of Merida and paral- 

 lels the upper Rio Chama; (2) the Sierra Nevada, or southern Sierra, 

 which has a corresponding position on the south of Merida and ex- 

 tends westward and southwestward to the vicinity of the 72nd Merid- 

 ian, somewhat to the eastward of the town of San Cristobal; (3) 

 the Cordillera of Trujillo, or northeastern Sierra, which lies south and 

 east of the upper Rio Motatan and reaches nearly to the 70th Meridian. 

 These mountain chains maintain a minimum elevation of 9000-10000 

 ft., and individual peaks reach a height of nearly or quite 15000 ft. 

 They break down to some extent in the vicinity of San Cristobal and, 

 although the exact conditions have not been worked out, it seems prob- 

 able that between the western sources of the Rio Uribante and the 

 eastern tributaries of the Rio Zulia opportunity is afforded for the 

 passage of the subtropical fauna of the East Andean and Orinocan 

 regions to the Maracaibo basin, thus completely isolating the Merida 

 temperate zone from that of the Paramo de Tama and Bogota. 



Following are the localities from which specimens are recorded:* 



Altagracia, February 10, ip20. Eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo 

 nearly opposite the city of Maracaibo in the arid region of cactus and 

 divi divi. Sea level. 



Rio Aurare, January 17-24, igio. About twelve miles southeast 

 of Altagracia, in the arid region, but adjacent to various swamps, 

 cienegas, and "manglars." Sea level. 



La Asulita, April 21-29, ig20. A village on the west side of the 

 Rio Guachi in the foothills overlooking the plain at the south end of 

 Lake Maracaibo. Some of the surrounding country is cleared for the 

 production of sugar and coffee, but most of it is heavily forested. Con- 

 ditions are humid tropical or subtropical. Elevation 3500 ft. 



*For more detailed descriptions of localities of collections made in 1910, see Osgood, 

 Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Pubs., Zool., X, pp. 36-38, 1912. 



