126 Mr. C. W. Wyatt on the 



some scrub and underwood. One visit to this locality would 

 probably suffice most people; for the bushes swarm with the 

 Garapata, a blood-sucking tick [Ixodes sanguisuga), and it is im- 

 possible to get about without being covered with them. 



We arrived at Bucarauianga early in the week, and found it 

 impossible to obtain mules to take us on, either to Cocui or 

 across the paramo to Pamplona ; so we decided to spend a couple 

 of days at the small village of Canta, distant a short day's jour- 

 ney from Bucaramanga, on the road down to the Magdalena ; 

 and afterwards to return and try again. 



The savanna of Bucaramanga is bounded on the west by a deep 

 ravine, which we crossed, and, having ascended the mountains 

 on the other side, looked back upon the savanna and the moun- 

 tains of Cachiri and Pamplona ; while in front of us lay a coun- 

 try intersected by ravines and water-courses, and partially co- 

 vered with forest. 



As the immediate neighbourhood of Canta, where we arrived on 

 the second day (having been benighted, and drenched in a violent 

 thunderstorm, and having lost our way), did not look very pro- 

 mising in an ornithological point of view, we went on to San Nico- 

 las, a hut about an home's ride further on. This is where the 

 dense forest covering the sides of the Magdalena valley commences 

 and continues almost without intermission down to the river, 

 changing in character as the elevation decreases. The birds 

 here were quite different from those we had before met with ; 

 amongst those w^e shot were the rare yellow-headed Parrot Caica 

 jjyrilia and Ramphastos citreolcemus. 



On our return to Bucaramanga we succeeded in getting a 

 couple of horses and one mule and a peon (neither our man 

 from Ocana nor the one who went with us to Canta could be 

 induced to face the cold of the paramo) for an excursion over 

 the paramo of Pamplona to Matisgua. Cocui we had been 

 obliged to give up. It would have taken us three weeks to go 

 and return, though, as the crow flies, it could not be more than 

 50 or 60 miles off. The rainy season was coming on, and we had 

 already had some heavy showers during the night. We were 

 also obliged to be at Santa Marta by March 28th. Our pro- 

 visions and small shot were both coming to an end. We 



