48 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



even then one would return nearly prostrated with the heat and thirst, 

 while many birds shot early in the morning would be in bad shape for 

 skinning by mid-afternoon. 



On the evening of May 9 we embarked in a small schooner for 

 Santa Marta, and after a pleasant, uneventful voyage of thirty hours 

 reached our destination, having been absent four months, and hav- 

 ing collected almost two thousand specimens of birds and mammals. 

 On this trip, as well as in subsequent work in Colombia, the eminently 

 successful results attained have been largely due to the untiring 

 energy, fearless courage, and unusual skill of Mrs. Carriker, who de- 

 serves full praise and credit. The endless inconveniences, privations, 

 and hardships which we were forced to undergo were enough to shake 

 the stoutest heart, and I venture to say that few women would have 

 stood up under them day after day and month after month without 

 complaint or reproach. 



After our return to Santa Marta, other matters prevented further 

 collecting for more than a year. However, on September 14, 191 5, a 

 trip was made to Tucurinca, on the western littoral, midway between 

 Cienaga and Fundacion, where the writer spent ten days working alone, 

 except for a native hunter. On October 5 a second trip was made to 

 Fundacion, on which occasion Mrs. Carriker was along. Two weeks 

 were spent there, and much valuable additional material secured. This 

 work was practically the last done by the junior author in the Santa 

 Marta region up to the summer of 1920, when he was able to spend a 

 few weeks in a reconnaissance of the lowlands southeast of the Sierra 

 Nevada. A full account of this expedition appears beyond. 11 Much has 

 been accomplished, but much still remains to be done, and the field 

 cannot be regarded as exhausted. 



According to the record the collection of birds made by the junior 

 author in the Santa Marta region consists of 5,355 specimens, of 

 which 4,244 are deposited in the Carnegie Museum, 1,022 in the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and 89 in his own cabinet. 

 The entire collection has been utilized in the preparation of the pres- 

 ent report. Not only is this by far the largest collection ever made 

 in this region, but it is also the most complete, including as it does 

 representatives of no less than four hundred and fifty-eight forms out 

 of the total of five hundred and fourteen on record. Of the remaining 



11 See Appendix. 



