SECRETARY'S REPORT 21 



Wetmore, research associate, was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. William 

 H. Phelps, Jr., of Caracas, Venezuela, on an expedition in the Terri- 

 tory of Amazonas, southern Venezuela. The party, which included 

 the geologists Dr. Guillermo Zuloaga, of the Creole Petroleum Co., 

 and Dr. C. D. Reynolds, of the Orinoco Mining Co., and Dr. James H. 

 Kempton, Agricultural Attache at the American Embassy, left Cara- 

 cas by plane on the morning of January 2 and flew to Esmeralda on 

 the Upper Orinoco. Landing was made on the savanna, and trans- 

 ferring to two launches the party proceeded to the head of the Cano 

 Casiquiare. That stream, taking about one-third of the water from 

 the Orinoco at this point, flows southward, augmented by several major 

 tributaries, to join the Rio Guainia and to form the Rio Negro, one 

 of the principal affluents of the Amazon, thus connecting the two great 

 river systems of northern South America. On January 5 the party 

 entered the Rio Pacimoni from the Casiquiare and 3 days later came 

 into a branch of this stream known as the Rio Yatua. Presently the 

 forest closed in as the stream narrowed, and it was necessary to trans- 

 fer to canoes and so to continue through channels that wound through 

 areas where the stream banks were flooded. 



A party of botanists under Dr. Bassett Maguire of the New York 

 Botanical Garden had preceded, but in spite of this much time was 

 lost in cutting through fallen trees and in locating the proper chan- 

 nels. A base camp at the head of navigation was reached on January 

 15, and Wetmore and Kempton remained here for work in the lowland 

 forest, while the rest of the party continued with porters, to join the 

 botanists on Cerro de la Neblina, a 7,000-foot mountain hitherto 

 unknown, near the Brazilian frontier. On January 25, the mountain 

 party having returned, the expedition moved downriver, continued 

 south to San Carlos del Rio Negro, and from there back up the Rio 

 Guainia to Maroa and Victorino on the Colombian frontier. On 

 February 6 they crossed the 18-kilometer foot trail from Pimichin 

 on tlie Amazon drainage to Yavita on the Rio Temi, which flows into 

 the Atabapo, a tributary of the Orinoco. At Yavita a launch was 

 waiting, and the downstream journey began, ending finally at Puerto 

 Ayacucho, capital of Amazonas. On February 11 the group again 

 reached Caracas, returning by air. Dr. Wetmore had opportunity 

 through the journey to study the northern edge of the great Amazon- 

 ian forest, and to make collections of birds, not only at the base camp, 

 but also in Colombian territory along the river boundaries. 



During the latter half of February and through March, Dr. Wet- 

 more, accompanied by Mrs. Wetmore, continued work on the birdlife 

 of Panama. Attention this season centered on the mountainous areas 

 of western Chiriqui, where through the kindness of Don Pablo Brack- 

 ney, of Panama City, an excellent base was available at Palo Santo, 

 west of the village of El Volcdn. Armageddon Hartmann was em- 



