32 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



ever had. One day when I was out hunting my Indian put a tray of 

 my skins out in the grass in front of the wigwam to dry in the sun, 

 and when he was not looking an Indian dog devoured every bird in 

 the tray, leaving hardly a feather ! My feelings upon my return may 

 be imagined, if not expressed. Macotama is situated on a grassy 

 plateau at about 8,000 feet ' above sea-level ; near by in a canyon 

 I found birds quite plentiful. At the time of my visit the trail passed 

 over a shelf on the side of a cliff where the ground seemed to be held 

 in place by roots ; in places there were holes through which I could 

 see the scenery about eight hundred feet below. 



" Above Macotama, at about 15,000 feet altitude, the region is 

 called by the Indian traders the Paramo de Macotama, and the Paramo 

 de Chiruqua is in the same zone, but farther over [i.e., to the west]. 

 It was cold, rainy, and exceedingly uncomfortable and disagreeable 

 when I was up there, and we were in the clouds most of the time. In 

 crossing the Paramo de Macotama the Indians are sometimes caught 

 in ice-water storms and perish miserably. On one occasion we were 

 caught in a storm and got chilled to the bone ; we had to run for our 

 lives to find shelter in a cave. During^the period of my explorations 

 in this region several Indians lost their lives in attempting to cross the 

 paramos on the other side of the mountain. 



"Upon the completion of my work in this district, in April, 1899, I 

 returned to Rio Hacha and shipped my collections to the Messrs. 

 Bangs. I then outfitted and provisioned for my coming trip to the 

 region on the southern side of the mountains. Leaving Rio Hacha 

 with a pack-train of eight mules and two drivers we finally reached 

 our objective, San Sebastian, after being two weeks on the way. The 

 trail from Rio Hacha to Valle de Upar traverses a long valley, mostly 

 flat country, but with occasional low hills, lying between the Sierra 

 Nevada mountains on the one hand and the Sierra Negra on the other. 

 The season being advanced and the birds beginning to moult, I did 

 no collecting on the way, conserving my strength and time for the 

 San Sebastian region. On leaving Valle de Upar for San Sebastian 

 the trail for several miles passes through low, well wooded country, 

 with here and there a small farm or cattle-ranch ; then it comes to a 

 very steep slope and goes up and up through the forest until within 

 a short distance of Pueblo Viejo; from here on the trail is over grassy 



7 Compare data given under this head in the List of Localities, page 117. 



