Birds of Columbia. 115 



about 6000 feet. The Nevada, it is said, is two days' journey 

 further on. In making an ascent, a tent would be necessary, 

 as on the high ground it would be intensely cold, and there are no 

 habitations of any sort. It would, I think, be a difficult moun- 

 tain for an ornithologist to work. As there are no roads 

 for mules, men would be required to carry one's luggage, and 

 there would be very great difficulty, I expect, in obtaining 

 them. Dull red and grey clouds were overhanging the moun- 

 tain as we viewed it from the deck of the ' Shannon' in the 

 early morning, which is the only time, we were told, when the 

 outline is visible ; but its snowy cap and forest-covered sides 

 were alike lost in a dark blue haze. 



A few hours later, our voyage of six and twenty days was over, 

 and we cast anchor in the clear water of the little bay of Santa 

 Marta, in front of a sandy shore and a white Italian-looking 

 .town, which was shut in by hills, the spurs of the Sierra Nevada. 



That day, as soon as the sun began to decline, we visited the 

 Mimosa and Cactus thicket at the back of the town, and made 

 our first acquaintance with the living avifauna of South Ame- 

 rica. Amongst the birds we shot were Saltator olivascens, 

 Sycalis brasilieiisis, Dendroplex picirostris, and Heliodytes 

 griseus. The last-named bird was building its nest high up in 

 a gigantic Cactus, the Mocking-bird {Mimus melanopterus) was 

 ever changing his note, and a little grey Woodpecker, with a 

 red head {Centurus tricolor), was hard at work on the Cacti. 



The few hours we spent in this thicket was all we could allow 

 ourselves for seeing the Ornis of the neighbourhood of Santa 

 Marta, as we had decided to make our way, as soon as possible, 

 up the Magdalena to Ocana ; and on the following day we left on 

 mules for Cienaga, an Indian village some 20 miles off, where the 

 little steamer, plying between Santa Marta and Baranquilla, 

 was to take us up. 



Cienaga is situated (as its name denotes) near a lagoon and 

 marsh. Herons, Egrets, and Stilts were wading about in the 

 shallows when we visited it in the early morning ; large flocks 

 of Tringidse were feeding on the mud ; and, in one corner, five 

 brown Pelicans (probably Pelecanus fuscus) were floating 

 lazily on the surface of the water. There seemed to be also a 



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