122 Mr. C. W. Wyatt on the 



down again into valleys clothed with the dense vegetation of the 

 tropics, then again ascending to a country of evergreens and 

 shrubberies. Change was constant ; we were ever going up or 

 down, sometimes crossing valleys 2000 feet in depth. 



Our intention of crossing the paramo was never accom- 

 plished; for our men, who were as much afraid of the cold as 

 they were of the heat, purposely led us by another and more 

 circuitous route ; and we must, I think, have skirted along the 

 western side of the paramo, instead of crossing it. From the 

 moment we left Ocafia, we fancied our mulemen were " up to 

 some dodge;" and it became more and more apparent as we 

 advanced. The paramo was ever in front of us until we arrived 

 at Cachiri, where we asked a man where the paramo was, and 

 he pointed to our backs. We could not, however, regret this 

 detour, as we had been travelling through a magnificent forest- 

 country, the home of the Trogons {Trogon personatus and Pha- 

 romacrus auriceps) and the Peruvian Manakin {Rujncola peru- 

 viana). The latter, I believe, has not been ascertained to occur 

 so far north before. 



The first hut we stopped at in the forest country was called 

 Canuto, three days' journey from Ocana. We stayed there for 

 a couple of days. The altitude was nearly 6000 feet. Mos- 

 quitoes were very troublesome ; but this was the only occasion on 

 which we met with them amongst the mountains. Around the 

 hut grew some trees [Laplacea, probably L. speciosa) bearing 

 a white waxy blossom, which seemed to be very attractive to 

 Humming-birdsj especially a single tree which stood on the 

 clearing in front of the hut. We obtained here six species of 

 Humming-birds, three of which we never met with again. The 

 tree itself we never saw elsewhere, though it is possible that 

 after the blossoms were over we may have overlooked it. 



At this place also we were much puzzled by the rufi" of Pijro- 

 derus granadensis, which a little girl, the daughter of the 

 owner of the hut, was wearing in her hat. It had been cut 

 out without showing any of the black portion of the plumage. 

 The young lady's father said he could take us to the place 

 where we could get the bird. So the next morning, at day- 

 break, we set off with him, and, after an hour's walking and 



