Birds of Columbia. 125 



It was in this same dell, at the bottom of which ran a dashing 

 stream, whose sides were clothed with magnificent forest-trees 

 and vegetation of the densest description, that I shot the Peruvian 

 Manakin. I was riding along in advance of W., who was in 

 pursuit of a Trogon personatus, when a few yards to my right I 

 caught a glimpse of what I took for the moment for Pijroderus 

 granadensis. Afraid to get off for fear of frightening the bird, 

 I tried to stop my mule, and to bi'ing him round so as to obtain 

 a shot. The mule (Columbian mules are more obstinate^ I think, 

 than those of any other country ; " Keep one spur always in, and 

 the other never out,'^ Columbians say) of course persisted in 

 going on, and the bird escaped. I then got off, and, on looking 

 round, saw a patch of yellow amongst the foliage, which I imme- 

 diately fired at and brought down. It was nearly ten minutes 

 before I could find the bird ; and I was just going to give up 

 the search, when I found, to my great astonishment, a splendid 

 specimen of Rupicola peruviana lying on its back at the bottom 

 of a steep bank. The bird was in its best plumage (Feb. 10th) 

 and was evidently about to nest. Its crop was found to be full 

 of seeds. The bird I had seen first was no doubt its mate. 



The Datura, with its long white hanging flowers, was not un- 

 common in some places in these forests; and though each flower 

 was full of little insects, we never saw a Humming-bird visit 

 them, except on one occasion, and then only for a moment. 



But our pleasant ride was now coming to an end, and we 

 emerged from these mountain-forests into a narrow valley, along 

 which ran a small rapid river. The first place we came to was 

 Cocuta Surata, whence a road crosses a paramo to Pamplona. A 

 ride of thirteen hours along thisvalleybrought us to Bucaramanga, 

 which is situated on a savanna surrounded by mountains about 

 3000 feet above the level of the sea. The climate of Bucaramanga 

 is very warm, considering its altitude. It seemed to us, in fact, 

 to be little better off than Santa Marta in this respect, though 

 this may have been owing to our having just descended from 

 one of the most beautiful climates in the world. Most of our 

 time here was spent in packing and drying our bird-skins, or in 

 preparing for our next trip ; but we managed to get a few birds 

 outside the town on the savanna, where there is, in one part, 



