BIRDS OF SOUTHERN VERACRUZ — WETMORE 221 



were low, stunted, and gnarled, often covered with epiphytes. Else- 

 where, the forest was beautifully luxuriant, with tall, spreading 

 trees. In many areas, ordinary undergrowth was scant, but a small 

 thorny palm, the chocha, was abundant. There are few trails in the 

 forest, and water above Tapacoyan is scarce. Birds, aside from Veni- 

 liornis fumigatus sanguinolentus, Henworhina leucosticta prosthe- 

 leuca, and Basileuterus culicivorus culicivorus, were not abundant in 

 the higher areas. Many of the common lowland species were not ob- 

 served. 



To collect on Volcan San Martin, Carriker left Tres Zapotes on 

 April 14, going by way of Tapacoyan, Potreros, Santiago de Tuxtla, 

 Buena Vista, and San Andres Tuxtla. The following morning at 

 9 : 30 he reached a solitary house on the volcano at a place called El 

 Tular, at 2,125 feet elevation. From here a mule trail, obscured by 

 many old logging roads, led to 3,550 feet on the mountain. Carriker 

 made his base at El Tular, where a clear, cool stream of water 

 emerges from a subterranean channel in the upper end of a small 

 valley and flows to the southwest. According to Carriker's notes, 

 while the slopes below El Tular are intensely cultivated, above there 

 extends a magnificent forest, unbroken by clearings, with many huge, 

 tall trees and luxuriant undergrowth in which the thorn-covered 

 chocha palm, so abundant on Cerro de Tuxtla, is happily absent. 

 The slopes are gentle to 3,500 feet, with many extensive flats. The 

 soil is decomposed volcanic ash overlying coarser deposits of the same 

 material. Above El Tular he found only one trickle of water, which 

 runs over volcanic rock in a deep ravine at the place called La Cocina, 

 where the mule trail ends. As is often the case in such situations, 

 the abundant rainfall in the main goes into the ground to reappear 

 far below. 



The ascent from La Cocina to the summit, over a narrow path along 

 a narrow ridge, is in places steep but may be made in about an hour 

 by an experienced climber. The mountain according to Carriker's 

 barometer rises to about 5,500 feet. Dense forest comes up the cone 

 of the volcano to within a few hundred feet of the rim of the crater, 

 while trees of reduced size continue to the edge where they become 

 gnarled and twisted and are covered with moss. From the edge of 

 this woodland a tangle of tough, almost impenetrable shrubbery ex- 

 tends down into the crater, where it changes to forest growth of im- 

 posing proportions. 



The trail emerges at the highest point on the volcano at the middle 

 of the southern side, this side being much higher than the northern 

 part of the rim. From this elevation, there is a grand view across 

 the summit to the lowlands on the north, and to the sea on the east. 

 To the south much of the view is obscured because of the configuration 



