114 Mr. C.W.Wyatt on the 



The rainy season, as a general rule, commences in April, 

 and continues up to the end of October ; this, however, is not 

 always the case. Occasionally, I believe, it lasts nearly up to 

 the end of December. Some parts of the country, too, are more 

 subject to rain than others. 



Considering how short our stay in the country was, our list 

 of the bird-fauna, even of the comparatively limited district 

 visited by ua, must necessarily be very imperfect. Any one 

 who has collected in tropical countries is aware of the diffi- 

 culties one has to contend with in the dense forest. 210 species 

 will be found to be enumerated in the following list ; and I 

 think I may say, without fear of exaggeration, that we either 

 shot and lost, or saw and could not shoot, a hundred species, 

 of which we have no specimens. 



It may, perhaps, be worth while to mention here, for the 

 benefit of any one who may hereafter visit this part of South 

 America, that a line of steamers has just been opened on the 

 Orinoco and Meta, thereby rendering accessible the country of 

 the head-waters of these two rivers, and forming another route 

 to Bogota. The boats ascend the Meta to within 60 miles (a 

 four days' journey on mules) of Bogota; and the time occupied 

 from Angostura, on the Orinoco, to the landing-place on the 

 Meta, we were told, was seven days. 



It was at day-break, December 22, after we had been playing 

 at " pitch and toss " all night, as the sailors had consolingly fore- 

 told, Ave first sighted the land of our destination. The mouth of 

 the Magdalena had just been crossed, and the " Shannon'' was 

 rolling in a heavy sea some thirty miles from land. In front of 

 us lay the northern coast of South America, and the isolated 

 group of mountains known as the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. 



Very little seems to be known about this mountain. Its 

 height has been estimated to be as much as 24,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea. The Admiralty chart of the coast gives it 

 an elevation of about 17,000 feet. People say that the only pos- 

 sible way to the Nevada is by Valle Dupar (a place situated at the 

 foot of the mountain, on the southern side), and thence by an 

 Indian village, St. Sebastian, which was visited by a friend of 

 mine five or six years ago. This village is at an altitude of 



